Eat Drink Be Murderous
by myboygeorge
Summary: Adam and Beckett must balance family and wedding plans while solving a grisly murder at a private school where everyone seems to have a motive. Takes place 1 month after the end of Demon's Barbecue.
1. Normalcy

Kate Beckett groaned when she heard her alarm clock go off. It was way too early, she decided, as it felt like she was hardly asleep before that incessant _merr-merr-merr-merr_ had her head lifting off the pillow.

'Nuhhhh,' she groaned, but got up; she knew it would be worse if one of her kids came in and found her buck-naked beside their equally naked daddy so Beckett got up and got herself into the shower knowing the noise would get Castle up too. When she'd finished her morning bathroom routine and left the ensuite she saw the bed empty and could smell coffee. Oh man, she really did have the best husband.

Dressed in fall-weight pants and long-sleeved shirt Beckett twisted her hair into a chignon at the nape of her neck, added her weapon holster and her badge to her belt. She tucked her cellphone into her pocket and headed downstairs not just to coffee but breakfast and the noise of her children.

'Hey, you guys are up early,' she commented, seeing Jojo and RJ at the breakfast table each with a glass of juice.

'Too 'cited-a 'nooze,' Jojo told her with a gleeful grin. 'Gonna go whoosh on a pane soon.'

'That's right, we're flying to Bermuda next Wednesday,' RJ told her.

'Too fah, Ah-Shay.'

'Not really if you go by sleeps, look.' RJ held up his hands, counted off his fingers. 'Tonight, tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. How many is that?'

'One, too, tuh-ree, foh, five, sis. Sis days!' Jojo crowed, proud of herself for getting it right when she saw RJ's smile. 'Tha' not so fah.'

'Mumum, we're gonna pack on the weekend, right?' RJ asked her. 'We're gonna make sure we have all our things ready for the plane ride to Bermuda?'

'Absolutely.'

'Very cool.'

'Daaaaa-deeee,' Jojo sang, twisting around to look at Castle by the stove in the kitchen. 'Mumum nee' bik-fiss soon.'

'It's coming in a moment, bumble-bee,' he replied, grinning when Beckett came over and kissed him. 'Good morning Detective, you're not called in early?'

'Not this morning, which is good because I have a butt-load of paperwork to polish off before we go away for a week.'

'We gonna see Lissy an' Adam weddin'.' Jojo clapped her hands. 'She be so boo-tee-fo, jus' like Mumum!'

'And Alexis too, but you were just a little baby when Alexis got married, Jojo,' RJ told her.

'RJ, you got your back-pack ready for school, buddy?' Beckett asked him. 'I'll take you to school this morning.'

'Yea!' RJ grinned broadly. He loved the mornings when his mother got to take him to school; he knew she often had to be out catching criminals early in the morning, or figuring out the story on a crime scene. She was almost always there for the after-school stuff but the morning stuff was usually for him and his dad so when they got to have a morning together on a school-day he would take it and run with it.

'And now it's breakfast time.' Castle brought over the bowls of oatmeal with blueberries for Jojo, apples for RJ and both for Beckett. He brought over a bowl for himself with Nesquik syrup and chewed thoughtfully as he listened to RJ detail what the day at school would bring for him.

'Daddy,' Jojo leaned over towards her father. 'Daddy, wan' go 'chool too. Wanna know 'tuff like Ah-Shay.'

'You'll get your turn, not to worry.'

'Okay. How you' bik-fiss?'

'Delicious. Eat up bumblebee, then it's going to be the day just you and me.'

* * *

'Seven days.'

Adam looked over his shoulder at Lindsay from the counter where he was grating cheese and he grinned when he saw Lindsay sitting there in her pyjamas while he was in his work clothes. One of the silver lining perks of Lindsay working the night shift was mornings like this - when he wasn't called to a scene early they could have a meal together. For her it was supper, for him it was breakfast and in Adam's mind, the best way to start and end a day for each of them.

'What's that?'

'Seven days. Then you won't just be making toaster waffles and fruit salad for your fiancee, you'll be making them for your wife.'

'And you'll be waking up your husband with a kiss hello after working the night shift.'

'That comes after the honeymoon,' Lindsay giggled. 'Think of it, a week in Bermuda with our family then a week in Aruba and then a week in Italy for just us. It's going to be amazing.'

'I'm looking forward to the wedding night,' Adam added with a lascivious grin and Lindsay's giggles continued.

'You've seen me naked plenty of times, Adam.'

'Yeah, my girlfriend and my fiancee. Not my wife.'

Lindsay's heart went buttery. 'Same here, only for my husband.'

The timer for the toaster dinged and with quick movements so as not to burn his fingertips, Adam landed the waffles onto plates and added bowls of fruit salad. He topped Lindsay's waffles with grated cheese - why the hell she found that appealing was one of the many mysteries he loved about her - then brought the plates to the table. 'What's left that has to be done this week before we go?'

'Not a lot. We've gotten the papers filed, we're packing our luggage this weekend, passports, tickets all that is taken care of. Andrea and Daniel are flying down on Sunday afternoon and taking the wedding party's clothes with them so they are already down there waiting for us.'

Adam smeared jam on his waffles, cut them into bite-sized pieces just like a little kid. Lindsay had watched him do that with pizza on their first at-home date and had been instantly charmed a tough-guy cop still wanted his food cut before he ate it. 'And we're also meeting with the caterer at the hotel Wednesday afternoon to finalize our menu. That's really the last major thing we've got left.'

'That and our bachelor and bachelorette parties this weekend. What are the guys planning for you since they know they can't get you hammered?'

'That falls under the Fight Club rules, which I also know is a two-way street for your send off with the girls.' Adam pictured three bites of waffle, chomped them down. 'But since we all have plans to pack this weekend, I'm sure that means we'll be cramming in packing around party time.'

'I bet,' Lindsay said, then let out a large yawn. 'Sorry, baby.'

'You had a long night, why not go get some sleep?'

Lindsay looked down at her breakfast; she'd already eaten all her fruit salad and most of her waffles so she set her plate on the counter knowing Adam would wrap it up when he put his coffee in his travel thermos. She leaned over and gave him a kiss, once, twice on the lips. 'Take care of my cop, my love.'

'You know I will.'

It was their ritual, just as Lindsay had learned Esposito always told Meredeth to give him one for good luck and she went to bed knowing her man would come home safely to her.

Back in the kitchen Adam wrapped Lindsay's plate with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for her, found his coffee and headed out for a day of paperwork with Newman and Beckett. They'd been given orders by Karpowski to clear their paperwork before they took any fresh cases, since the trial for their last high-profile murder in July had run long and they'd fallen behind. He arrived at his desk in the bullpen which was smack-dab between Beckett's and Newman's and he almost groaned when he saw the stack on his desk topped with an absurdly cheerful neon pick Post-It note.

'Good thing I had waffles and coffee this morning,' he murmured as he

He barely noticed anything else around him for the next two hours until he heard Beckett calling his name out. 'Brennan!'

'Yes, Beckett.'

'We caught a fresh one,' Beckett held up the note as she hung up her desk phone.

'Thought we weren't allowed any new cases until the paperwork was cleared.'

'Newman's still on desk-only duty since coming back from his injury. As much as he might bitch, it'll make him feel like himself again.' She grabbed her coat, headed for the elevator. 'You're with me on this one, and brace yourself, this is gonna be tough.'


	2. A Nasty Ending

Adam watched out the window as the Crown Vic slowed to a stop. He swallowed tightly and tried not to fidget. He'd known if Beckett was telling him it would be a bad one, it would be a bad one but when he saw the location of their crime scene, his sensibilities were offended on a whole new level.

'A school? We have a murder scene at a school?'

'I told you our vic was a teacher.'

'Yeah, Wayne Hill, thirty-eight, math professor at Calliope Thrace.' Adam recited the bullet she'd given him. 'You neglected to mention that it happened at the school.'

'Unfortunately yes.' Beckett shut off the engine, saw the children ages six to sixteen milling around in little groups on the sidewalk. Some were crying, others looked shell-shocked and numb. 'Karpowski already called in our best uniforms to handle the crowds, counselors for the kids. We're meeting with the principal, she should be waiting for us right inside those doors.'

Adam slipped on his sunglasses, not just to guard against the bright September morning but also to try and keep Beckett from noticing the squirmy look in his eyes. He'd hated high school a lot - he'd gone to a similar private school thanks to scholarship money and a part time weekend job while the majority of his classmates complained about how they were being forced onto another cruise again this year for Thanksgiving and how they were so sick of always spending New Year's Eve in Thailand or Hong-Kong or the Caribbean. Adam hadn't gone on his first trip on an airplane until he was eighteen, after he'd scrimped and saved the forty-five hundred bucks together for his school's rugby trip to Australia in May of his senior year.

'Amazing, isn't it?' Beckett said to him as they approached the doors.

'What?'

'Once you go back into a school all the memories are flooding back to you.'

'You went here?' Adam asked, wondering for a brief, fleeting moment if his boss had been the kind of girl who would have made his teenage years a living hell.

'Oh, God, no. I was a public school kid through and through,' she replied on a laugh as she looked around, saw the well-dressed Asian woman in a chocolate brown suit and chunky gold jewelery that looked almost comical on her slight features. 'I asked my parents about it once, they said they'd rather take all that money and save it for sending me to university, which they did. I made it through two years at Columbia before they had to take out a student loan for me.'

'Trust me, I wish my parents had done the same thing some days,' Adam murmured.

Beckett opened her mouth to reply, but the woman in the suit had reached them by now, her arm outstretched; as she was closer now, she could see her almond eyes were red and puffy from weeping.

'Thank you for coming so quickly, Detectives. I'm Anna Leung, the deputy headmistress here. Our headmaster is at a Department of Education meeting in Rochester until Friday so I'm in charge for the time being.'

'Detective Beckett, Detective Brennan,' Beckett replied by way of introducing them. 'Please lead the way.'

'Who found the body?' Adam added as Leung took them towards a broad sweeping staircase with real oak banisters and parquet flooring.

'Two of our senior students, Nicholas Tomasi and Sarah Ritter. They both have Wayne as their second-period algebra and geometry professor, and he is their independent study sponsor as well.' Leung gave a little sniffle. 'It was so like Wayne to take on that extra responsibility when he had so many other projects on the go.'

'He was popular?'

'Oh immensely. Tough, certainly, but he enjoyed that reputation because he pushed the students to the best of their ability.'

Leung turned them down a corridor that to Adam's frame of mind looked more like the corridors at City Hall rather than a high school; she continued, 'Wayne was also the coach of the girls volleyball team along with Miss Witt, he was the male vocal coach for our glee club, he sat on the parents council as the staff representative and he was also organizing our Cops for Cancer bike-ride fundraiser. How he had the time to do all of that and teach five classes a day was mind-boggling. It's...it's what makes it so awful. He's leaving a huge hole in our community.'

The woman stopped outside the doorway of a classroom, pointed. 'He's in there. One of the medical examiners is already with him.'

'Thank you, Ms Leung, we'll want to talk to the two students who found him shortly,' Beckett said by way of dismissing the woman and wasn't surprised as her quiet sobs echoed down the hall when she retreated. Crossing over, the stench of death hit her like a brick wall in the warm room.

Sprawled face down, his head turned towards the neat rows of desks, was Wayne Hill. His arms were outstretched like he'd tried to push himself up, then collapse from lack of strength; his eyes were wide and fixed, staring at the empty seats in his room. Beckett imagined he'd been handsome once, but now his smooth cocoa-coloured face was bloated, his tongue protruding from puffed lips. Crouched beside him, taking measurements was Shane looking very depressed.

'Morning Doctor Son-in-Law.'

'The same to you, Detective Mumum-in-Law,' he replied without his usual cheerfulness.

'What's his story?'

'At this time cause is unknown, because I want to be damn sure my instincts are right. What I can tell is this man bit the chalk-dust at approximately nine-thirty this morning.'

'That's pretty specific,' Adam commented, and Shane delicately lifted the man's wrist, showed off the Swiss-made wrist-watch.

'Mister Hill crunched his Zaufmann when he collapsed, broke the springs to keep it going.'

'It could have just stopped on its own?'

'No frickin' way.' Shane shook his head. 'My dad's a clock-and-watch guy, I grew up with him talking about time-pieces the way some men talk about muscle cars. A Zaufman is like Rolex's kid brother, they are designed to last so if this thing is dead in the water, which this one is, that means he'd have to fall hard and fast without any chance to break his fall.'

'Like someone having a heart-attack or stroke?' Beckett asked. 'They're disoriented, dizzy, don't know their bearings.'

'Could be but the signs of a stroke or coronary aren't presenting. I'd rather take him with me, get him sorted out before telling you what's what.'

Adam nodded, looked around; he could actually feel the walls closing in around him as memories of being called Beggar Brennan came screaming back to him so he cleared his throat and said, 'I'm going to head back down to the principal's office and see about our two witnesses.'

'In a moment, Detective.' Beckett held up a finger. 'Shane, are you sure you can't give us any idea?'

'I don't want to be wrong,' Shane replied quietly, 'because if I'm right, you're looking for one very cold-blooded sociopath.'

'Alright, fair enough. Adam, can you head downstairs and tell the principal that the ME is ready to move the body, that having the students outside isn't going to be in their best interest?'

'Sure.'

Adam went back the way Leung had escorted them to the second floor and found her outside what appeared to be the general office talking to two other staff members, one a greying man with penny-lens spectacles and a silver push-broom mustache, the other, a blonde with a pixie cut whom Adam would have mistaken for a student had she not been in three inch heels and a Laura Ashley blouse and pencil skirt.

'Miz Leung, our medical examiner is ready to move the body, so we need to ask for your assistance in moving students back into the school so that they won't have to witness their teacher in black plastic,' he said to the trio of educators. Adam knew it was a little more blunt and harsh than he would normally have been but he also knew these kind of people - protocol was the official party line, that and keeping all the makers of the trustfund babies happy. Being slightly brutal to them was sometimes the only way to get through the dense sense of propriety.

'Of course. Gregory, Liz, could you assist me?'

The other faculty members nodded, and when they'd gone a few steps away, Leung added quietly to Adam, 'I've sequestered Nicholas and Sarah in the nurse's room, separately of course, each with one of your officers. Who would you like to speak to first?'


	3. The First Witness

When the body was on the move out of the building, Beckett followed it downstairs and headed for the door marked 'Infirmary'; no simple nurse's office for these students. She found Adam in one of the rooms where he was just passing a girl of multiracial heritage a paper cup of water, which she moved to her mouth and back down like a robot.

'Detective Brennan, am I interrupting?' she asked and Adam shook his head.

'Miss Ritter wanted to wait until you were hear in case she started crying, she said,' Adam explained.

'I'm not a sissy,' Sarah Ritter said stubbornly, her eyes still glassy. 'I always thought those women on TV who scream when they found a body were total wusses, but I guess I'm just as wussy as they are.'

'Sarah, you had no reason to think you'd find your teacher dead this morning,' Beckett said gently. 'I don't think reacting to that makes you a wuss.'

'Have you ever screamed when you saw a dead body?'

'No, but I've had other reactions most lay people would consider wussy,' Beckett replied, thinking of when Raglan had taken her and her father to the morgue to identify her mother's body. She'd thrown up right there on the cold white tile, every bit of pasta she'd eagerly scarfed down with her father at the restaurant while waiting for her mother to arrive. 'It doesn't make you weak, though. Just human.'

'That's something you say to everyone like this,' Sarah sighed in the way only a teenage girl could.

'Yes, it is, because it's the truth.'

For whatever reason, this seemed to bring Sarah out of her stupor and her eyes cleared a little; she straightened up, took a deep breath. 'Okay. What do you need to know?'

'Walk me through your movements from the start of your school day. What time did you get here?'

'I-The subway arrives at seven-forty-two, and it's a three minute walk from the end of the street here. I used my pass to get in the door and went to the junior lounge where my locker is.'

'The junior lounge?' Adam repeated.

'Yeah, it's like a combination locker room and lunch room for the juniors. Every year has one.'

'Oh sure, sure, they had something like that when I went to Washington Irving.'

At this revelation, both Beckett and Sarah's eyes popped, though it was Sarah who spoke in disbelief. 'You were a Horseman?'

'Our class just had its ten-year reunion in June.'

'Never would have guessed that.' Sarah took another sip of water. 'Anyways, I had an appointment with my post-secondary adviser about getting college visits set up, then I got a bagel and some tea in the cafe, listened to my iPod until the bell rang at ten after eight. My first class is...was...Professor Hill's class, AP algebra and geometry.'

'How are you doing in that class?'

'Pretty good. Dad says if I want to keep taking music and literature I have to do the math, even though we both know I'm going to study literary management and publishing at college.'

'I had the same battle with my mother over physics,' Beckett told and Sarah gave a little laugh. 'What next?'

'I had my butt in that chair the entire time, didn't leave the class once. It ran from eight-fifteen to nine-am. I didn't bother moving because my period right after is my independent study period and Professor Hill is...was...my supervisor for that.'

'What does an independent study supervisor do?'

'He makes sure you've got a quiet study space that isn't going to be full of distractions like the library. We have Internet access on the school computers if we need it and we can email our other teachers if...I'm sorry,' Sarah warbled as she dissolved into tears once more. She sniffled, swiping the backs of her hands under her eyes and thanked Beckett for the tissue she passed her. 'God, I've been doing this since we found him.'

'It's part of the normal grieving process,' Adam assured her.

'You're sure?'

'One hundred percent.'

'Okay. Okay.' Sarah pulled it in, blew her nose. 'I, ah, I saw Nicky Tee come in and asked him where Rollie was but he said Rollie was out sick. Roland McFarland, he's the other person Professor Hill was sponsoring for independent study.'

'Nicky Tee, that's Nicholas Tomasi?'

'Yeah. There's two Nick's in our class, so we call him Nicky Tee to make the difference. He came in and he looked upset about something but I didn't ask what it was because I had to work on my Shakespeare analysis. Then...then I started to feel a little funny, like...like I'd eaten something wrong. My skin started getting itchy feeling and I thought maybe I didn't read the label on the bagel closely enough.'

'You have food allergies?'

'Peanut allergy. That's what this started to feel like, like maybe I'd gotten a trace amount or something. I asked Professor Hill to go to the ladies room, and he said sure he'd walk me down. He was nice like that, to the guys and girls because you know how it is when you're sick, you turn into a kid again, right?'

'Oh yeah,' Beckett laughed, thinking of Shane Weaver's bouts with strep throat.

'Anyways,' Sarah sighed, crumpling up her now-empty cup, 'I threw up my bagel and tea, and that helped, so I figured it was the bagel. I must have been gone awhile because when I came out Nicky Tee was there and said that Professor Hill had sent him to fetch me. I think I thanked him and he walked with me back to class, and...and that's when...when w-we saw...'

'Okay, okay.' Beckett put her hand soothingly on the girl's shoulder as she broke down once more. 'You did great, Sarah.'

'Really?'

'Yes, you gave us a time line, and your friend finding you gives you an alibi.'

'Alibi? You think I could have done that?'

'No, I don't,' Beckett replied evenly, her tone smooth to get through to the still-shocky Sarah. 'But I want to know if you think any staff or students had a beef with him.'

'Well, everyone loves and hates Professor Hill in equal measure,' Sarah said with a guilty smile. 'He's a hard-ass- pardon my language - but when you come out of his class you know you used your brain and he makes you feel like you accomplished something. Can...I really wanna see my dad and my stepmom, are they here?'

'I'll go find out,' Adam volunteered; it was a perfect segue for Beckett because there was another question she wanted to ask. She loathed having to ask it but it had to be done.

'Sarah, do you know if Professor Hill was ever inappropriate with the female students? Or any of the male ones?'

'Inap- No! Ew! God, that's like...like thinking about kissing your brother!' Genuine disgust radiate on Sarah's face and Beckett knew it was too spontaneous to be a lie. 'All the girls thought he was cute, but he's old! He's like, almost forty!'

Oh youth, was Beckett could think and she rose, letting Sarah know they were done talking for the moment. 'Sarah, I know you're going to get a lot of people asking you about what you saw this morning, reporters included, and I know your parents will tell you the same thing I'm going to say - if you need to talk to someone about it, talk to me. You are a material witness to a homicide and-'

'I know, Detective. No spouting off to the press or you'll look bad, and I know you from reading the articles about your cases and Nikki Heat,' Sarah told her with another guilty little smile. 'You're one of the best cops in New York City, I don't want to tarnish that rep for you.'

'You're pretty savvy for a teenager.'

'My parents have told me that reputation counts for a lot, so make sure it's a good one. Be smart, be kind, and do your best not to hurt others.'

'That's a good family motto.'

Adam reappeared with a man who resembled Sarah in nearly every way, a copper-skinned woman with blue eyes at his side. 'Mister and Missus Ritter,' he said to Beckett, and while Sarah launched herself into her parents' embrace, he added, 'You ready for the other one?'

'Yeah. We'll see if he's as detailed as Sarah was.'


	4. The Second Witness

Were you bullshitting her, Adam?'

'Huh?'

After watching Sarah's parents escort her out of the building, Adam turned back to Beckett. 'Was I bullshitting about what?'

'Going to Washington Irving.'

'Oh, no, that's very true, unfortunately,' Adam sighed. 'My parents insisted that I go to private school since the options in the neighbourhood where I grew up wasn't exactly known for its academic prowess.'

'That must have been pricey as hell.'

'I was a scholarship kid,' he admitted. 'At school I was Brennan the Beggar Boy and at home the kids on my street called me Uptown Girl, like the Billy Joel song.'

'That's awful.'

'Taught me a lot though, about the kind of person I wanted to be and not to be too. Kids I went to school with were not like Sarah Ritter that's for sure.'

'She seems like a decent girl,' Beckett agreed, then stuffed her hands in her pockets. 'Something about her story doesn't add up though.'

'How do you mean?'

'Well, Lanie's got a severe allergy like Sarah, right?'

'Yeah, shellfish. She eats it, she dies but if others eat it near her, she just gets itchy and has problems breathing right?'

'Exactly. So if Sarah had ingested something with peanuts or trace amounts of peanuts, I sincerely doubt she would have been with it to talk to us and give us such a coherent statement.'

'You're thinking someone in the room had something with peanuts in it?'

'I don't know, it's just something to think about.'

Beckett stopped talking when the other witness came in, this one not as pale as Sarah was but just as shaky-looking. He too looked like a child of a multi-racial marriage, what she imagined Carey or Finn Parrish Robbins might look like at age sixteen - he had toasted almond skin and muddy green eyes, and his posture was stiff as a tin-man when he sat on the edge of the cot in the nurse's office.

'Nicholas Tomasi, I'm Detective Kate Beckett, this is Detective Adam Brennan. I'm terribly sorry you had to see something like that.'

'Call me Nicky,' he said numbly. 'Everyone else does, you can too.'

'Okay Nicky. Can you take us through your morning?'

'I got up about six-thirty, had a shower, and-'

'From when you got to school,' Beckett clarified.

'Oh, okay. My chauffeur dropped me off at ten to eight. I hit the lounge, got my books ready and went to the French room. I had a presentation to do and wanted to get into the room early.' Nicky heaved a sigh. 'Mademoiselle Tonya let me in at eight o'clock and I was there until the warning bell rang at eight-ten. I took a minute to go and get a drink at the fountain before the start of class since my presentation was the first one on the docket.'

'Understandable, get it out of the way first,' Adam concurred and Nicky let out a short laugh.

'Nah, it was reverse alpha order. In junior AP French, I'm the last kid on the roster.'

'What time did class end?' Beckett prompted Nicky.

'At nine. We have five minutes to get to our next class, which is easy since all our classes are on the same floor. I had ISP with my sponsor, Professor Hill, right afterward.'

'Sarah said when you came into class you looked angry about something.'

'Yeah, I was angry because Professor Hill was there and said I couldn't talk to him during ISP time, I had to wait until my scheduled appointment. I'd asked him the day before about it and he was such a hard-ass on things like that, it's so annoying.' Nicky cracked his knuckles, sighed again. 'I know he's dead and it's wrong to say things like that about him but

'What did you want to talk to him about?'

'My AP algebra placement test. School policy says if you get a three on the test you can take the course, but Hill said no one with lower than a four could be in his class. I wanted to tell him I wanted to retake the test so I would have six AP courses on my transcript for applying to the Big Three.'

'The Big Three?'

'Stanford, Harvard, Princeton. I'm going to be in civil engineering and AP algebra and geometry would go a long way to getting into those schools.'

'I see,' Beckett said neutrally; she wondered what it was like for students like Nicky, so used to spouting off their parents' desires that they lost sight of what they wanted for themselves. 'Did you speak to him at the start of class?'

'No, I just started working on my biology project on the computer. I'm researching the impact of algae on sources of drinking water. But he left to take Sarah down to the girls' WC and came back a few minutes later. She was looking a little shaky so I suppose it's a good thing he took her. Then... God, it feels like I'm telling a story, not what happened.'

'It's okay, everyone processes things differently,' Adam told him, much like he'd reassured Sarah. 'You're doing really well.'

'Then he came back and I kept on working, and about nine-thirty or so, Professor Hill asked me to go down and wait for her outside the girls' room to make sure she was okay and bring her back to class.'

'Why do you think he asked you to do it? Why not just go himself?'

Nicky shrugged. 'He said he wanted to keep marking tests he had to hand back that afternoon. Mostly, I think he liked to pick on me for kicks because I had something he didn't.'

'What's that?'

'Money. Everyone knew that Hill was going through a divorce and he was spending more than he made. It's one of those things that was supposed to be private, like when we know one of our female teachers is knocked up but everyone knows because they know what preggos look like. I mean, we're not stupid kids, we can see what's going on.'

'Wait until you're a parent,' Beckett said dryly. 'What time did you leave to get Sarah?'

'About nine-thirty, maybe a few minutes before? I don't wear a watch-' Nicky held up his naked wrists '-so unless I'm in a class room or a car, I have no idea what time it is.'

Adam filed this away, kept his face even as he made the next inquiry. 'What did you do when you saw him there?'

'I...I couldn't move. Sarah was beside me screaming, and she ran across the hall to get Mademoiselle Tonya and she went somewhere, called Professor Leung I guess because the next thing I knew she was there telling us to stay out of the room.' Nicky's eyes took on a far-away light as he relayed his recollection of the events. 'She closed the door and locked it, made us all leave the second floor and go outside until the cops got here. Professor Leung made me and Sarah come in here until you guys got here.'

He sighed, clamped his linked fingers on the back of his head in frustration. 'I should have done something, instead of just standing there like an asshole with Sarah while she was freaking out. I should...I'm a man and her friend, I should have helped her calm down or something.'

'I'm sure you'll have a chance to talk to her once things settle down here and you get home, get something to eat and relax,' Adam told him. 'Maybe you two might get together for a meal and give each other an ear.'

'Can...do you know what killed him?'

'The ME is still in the early stages of his own investigation,' Beckett said, and when another set of parents appeared at the door this time with Leung, she pulled out a card from her pocket. 'If you need to talk to me about anything else, you can reach me at this number.'

'Thanks.'

Nicky left with his parents, his back still stiff and straight even as his mother put her arm across his shoulders. When they were gone from the building, Beckett turned to Adam. 'He's sweet on Sarah.'

'You got that too?'

'Loud and clear. You get that he hates Hill's guts?'

'Because he dared to keep that spoiled brat from getting his own way because he lacked the talent? Loud and clear too.'


	5. In the Principal's Office

With the witnesses taken care of, the next step was the staff at the school for Adam while Beckett checked in with Leung. She had to admit, she'd never really thought about the kind of people it took to be a principal day-in and day-out until she and Castle had enrolled RJ in school. You had to wear a lot of hats, she thought; today Leung was wearing her Fearless Leader fez and Sympathetic-Motherly sombrero as she watched her direct children this way and that way towards parents or older siblings.

'I know, sweetie, it's a very scary and bad thing that happened,' she crooned to a boy of about seven who clutched the fingers of another boy who looked about thirteen. 'But the police are here to make sure they find the bad guy. Dmitri, are your parents going to be here soon?'

'Yeah, Mom texted said they're just getting off the subway.'

'Why don't you take your brother outside, get him some fresh air?'

'Okay. C'mon Nolan.'

Beckett watched Leung watching them go and saw the woman heave a small sigh as she tried to make sure she kept her composure. It was a move she herself could appreciate, having been the leader on countless ops where her men were looking to her for the answers she didn't always have. She moved so that when Leung opened her eyes, she would see Beckett walking towards her; sure enough the principal caught sight of her and gave her an understanding look.

'It can't be easy,' Beckett said, feeling a little lame.

'It took us long enough to get our reputation back after those three exchange students were murdered twelve years ago. Even when it turned out to be part of some political plot, it took us about two years to put our reputation for bad security behind us. This...this could ruin us.' Leung sighed again, then turned with a gesture for Beckett to follow her into the main office where the three secretaries were on switchboard phones that were lit up like the seventh night of Chanukah; they bypassed them straight for Leung's office.

'I want to thank you for your discretion with regards to the body and the students, Detective,' Leung said, moving to her Keurig coffee maker. 'It's never easy to lose someone suddenly but to have it happen at the school...'

'Sarah and Nicky both said he was tough but he was equally liked and respected.'

Leung gave a mournful little chuckle. 'Wayne Hill is probably one of the hardest teachers to ever work here. I don't mean he was a hard man, but he believed wholeheartedly in the school rules, sometimes a little too wholeheartedly from time to time. He pushed the students and our alumni who go on to places like Stanford and MIT, Cal-Tech, UCSB, all of them send him a thank-you note for how great a teacher he was because without him they would have flunked or just barely passed.'

'How did he get on with the other staff?'

'Very well. He'd become a lot more quiet and withdrawn of late, though given he was going through a rather acrimonious divorce I can't really blame him. His husband was taking him to the cleaner's in legal fees.'

Beckett wanted to pointed out that all divorce was acrimonious, as it meant the dissolving of a promise of love; the romantic in her wanted to believe that when people said 'Till death do us part' they truly meant it. The realistic cop in her had seen too many cases of spousal battery and infidelity to know that it didn't always work for everyone. It was also what made her thankful for her family and friends; she made a mental note once she was in the car to call her husband.

'Were there any complaints about him from students? Did he have a reputation for being a flirt or prejudiced against certain groups?'

'No, Wayne didn't have any interest in his students like that, even as a healthy man in his prime appreciating young beautiful bodies. And he was known to be friendly with the staff but lately he was more and more snappy and strung out looking. The stress of the divorce was getting to him, which was I was going to recommend him for a conference down in Miami so he might get a little sun and time away from everything.'

'That's very considerate of you,' Beckett told her, taking the coffee Leung passed her. 'What about parents, were there any issues there?'

'Some were hot under the collar when they found out a gay man was teaching their children but our teacher's council pointed out this only became an issue after they found out. Wayne never hid his sexuality but he never flaunted it either, you know?'

'Yeah, I know what you mean. I have an officer like that in my division. What about other students? Maybe some seniors last year who didn't get the grade they wanted, it stopped them from getting into their dream school?'

'I can't think of anyone who would do that to Hill, mainly because he teaches the sophomores and juniors. If anyone had issues with him, chances are they'd still be at the school.'

'I'm going to need a roster for all of his students, anyone he sponsored for independent study and all complaints or disciplinary actions involving his students.'

'The rosters I can give you now,' Leung told her, already moving to her desktop computer, 'but the others will take a few hours. I'll have them to you as quickly as we can manage. There's a lot of fallout to deal with that hasn't even started yet.'

'Thank you very much, Miz Leung.' Beckett drained her coffee cup, rose. 'I'll be in touch.'

'Please, if you can tell us anything as soon as you know it, I'd like to pass it on to my students and their families, my staff so we can create our pwn plan of attack on how to handle this.'

'I'll do my best.'

Beckett left the office, nearly bumping into Adam who was on the phone with his bride-to-be, it seemed, while he waited for her return.

'LNo, I don't think a limo is too over the top. No I'm not just saying, that, my cherry tomato. Okay. Text when you've got it sorted out. Love you too. Bye-bye.'

Adam sighed as he hung up, turned to look at Beckett. 'She was fine this morning, then all of a sudden she had this notion pop into her brain we should take a towncar to the airport next week. I don't get it, she's been so sane the rest of the time and- what?'

'Oh, Adam, you really are going to be a married man soon,' Beckett laughed. 'I can tell you with one-hundred percent certainty that no woman in the history of the world who has ever planned a wedding has been sane from start to finish. Any woman who claims otherwise is a bald-face liar.'

Talk of wedding-lanning reminded Beckett of the call she wanted to make and since Adam had taken two minutes for personal time, Beckett decided to do the same. She dialed home and was a little surprised when she heard Alexis' voice, but it was a welcome surprise none the less. 'Hey, what are you doing home?'

'I'm doing my next six weeks in the hospital and it's my day off the rotation today, how are you? Are you okay?'

'Yeah, just wanted to say hello to my family.'

'Okay, that- yes, Jojo, in a moment. Sorry, Jojo wants to say hi to you too.'

'That's fine, put her on,' Beckett laughed and she listened to her little girl's voice over the line. 'Hey bumblebee, how are you?'

'Alessis vis'in, Mumum! Daddy go get 'tuff fo' suppah. It a pise fo' you!'

'Oh, well, you tell Daddy a great big thank you from me and you give him a big hug and kiss from me too, okay?'

'An' say 'love you' ?'

'Of course.'

Jojo giggled in her sweet way. 'O-kay, Mumum, Alessis turn now. See soon! Love you!'

'Love you too, bumblebee.'

Alexis came back on, and Beckett told her as much as she could about the case, which had Alexis going on red alert. 'I'll go with Dad and Jojo to get RJ after school,' she said and Beckett felt a little tension in her gut ease up.

'Thanks girl. Gotta run, I'll see you later. Love you.'

'Love you too Mom.'

Beckett hung up, looked at Adam who had gone pale. 'What is it?'

'Shane thinks he's already got a cause of death.'


	6. Cause of Death

The trip to the morgue from Calliope Thrace was a short one; it was one of the perks of working a murder scene in Midtown-South. Within fifteen minutes Beckett and Adam were nearly jogging as they stepped off the elevator and booked it into Shane's autopsy theatre. Wayne Hill's body was on the stainless steel table, naked and open mid-Y cut while Shane spoke his notes aloud into his Audiovox as he took out the heart and the lungs.

'Pause record,' he said clearly, then waited two seconds before hearing the beep he was no longer recording his voice when he looked up at the live bodies arriving in his work space. 'Detectives, thanks for getting here so quickly.'

'Your message was marked nine-one-one, that tends to make cops move quickly,' Adam replied. 'What's up?'

'I have a cause of death for you, confirmed.'

'Already?' Beckett blinked like an owl. 'Dude that's pretty damn quick.'

'I told the lab I was bringing in a priority case, had them waiting to draw blood samples and I put a rush on the stomach contents. It's not usual procedure but like I said, priorities.' Shane stripped off his latex gloves, went to his bench for the preliminary report. 'Stomach contents are whole wheat toast, bacon, mayonaise, lettuce, tomatoes, Monteray Jack cheese, grapefruit juice, coffee black, and peanut oil.'

'Peanut oil?' Beckett repeated, and Shane nodded vigorously.

'Two fluid ounces of one-hundred percent pure peanut oil, the kind you get from any grocery store and used to make really greasy, really tasty French fries at home. I took tissue samples and blood work, and both indicate anaphylactic shock from peanuts as the cause of death.'

'How would he not notice that?'

'Based on rate of digestion, it was mixed in with the coffee and ingested five minutes before his time of death, which as I said on scene is pin-pointed to nine-thirty this morning.'

'Coffee is bitter, it would have masked the smell, the taste, and you wouldn't notice until it was too late,' Adam reasoned and Shane tapped the tip of his nose.

'Bingo. Whoever did this had to know he had a severe peanut allergy, the kind that if he ingested it meant he was a goner, EpiPen or not.'

'There were no signs of an EpiPen or TwinJect on-scene,' Beckett said, made a note in her scratch-pad. 'An allergy that severe he'd carry one with him at all times, like Dell and his insulin.'

'Bingo times two.'

'Which means that our killer may have taken it with them.' Beckett frowned in thought, looked over at Adam. 'Get on the phone to Leung at the school, tell her we need a list of all visitors or guests to the school. They would all have to be apprised of a peanut allergy.'

Adam nodded, left to make the call; alone with his mother-in-law Shane cocked his head to the side. 'You're not thinking it's an outside job, are you Kate.'

'No, I'm not.' The fact Shane put it as a statement, not a question, showed just how well they worked together. 'The timeline that one of the witnesses, Sarah, gave us, it's too straightfoward and too...precise, I guess is the word for it, too precise for there to be enough time for a stranger to the school to get in, find his room, poison his coffee and be out again all without being noticed.'

'So someone at the school poisoned the teacher? Why?'

'That's my job, to find out why,' she said, then glanced over when Adam came back in. 'Leung come through?'

'Yeah, she was already going to give us the list anyways. She also said she'll have the other files to us by five today, and she gave the school security logs to Harold for the computer side of things.'

'Good.'

'Something else is bugging me,' Adam said, scratching the back of his neck. 'Sarah said when Nicky came in he looked angry about something, right?'

'Right.'

'Well, we know he had a beef of sorts with Hill, but if anything, having to wait would make you edgy and anxious, not angry. So what did he have to be pissed off about?'

'A very good point. Shane you got anything else right now?'

'No. I'll have a more thorough report for you once I get his workup completed, maybe another two hours or so.' Shane went to the box on the wall for fresh protective gloves, a subtle signal that he had to get back to work so Beckett and Adam thanked him, left at a slightly slower pace than the one going in.

'Adam,' Beckett said to him when they were in the elevator. 'If you've got a prejudice against this investigation because of your own experiences now is the time to say it.'

'Hell no. I'm just trying to figure that kid out.'

'Good.' But Beckett knew she'd be keeping an extra close eye on him for this one. 'Feel like having a little lunch now?'

'No BLTs for me, thanks,' he replied with a little humour, then added after a beat, 'and no peanut butter sandwiches either.'

They opted for Monsoon's so they could make it a working lunch and each was careful to avoid anything with peanut sauce; it was just too weird to think about it while investigating a murder by allergic reaction. with boxes of pad gra prow and cashew chicken curry, they set up the murder board and broke down their timeline to a very specific minute-by-minute scale instead of the usual hour-by-hour.

'Would a school like that have security cameras?' Beckett asked Adam.

'They might, but more likely they'd have secure entrance by pass-key.'

'How woudl that work?'

'All exits are locked from the outside, and you have to go to the main entrance, then be issued a guest card as well as signing the visitor's log.'

'Sounds a little like prison.'

'Welcome to my high school years,' Adam said with a sour smile, then looked back at the board. 'I still like that kid for it.'

'What, the high school kid?'

'Yeah. I remember reading in the papers about one of your first cases with Castle, the kids at Redding Prep who decided to play at being bad-asses and ended up with two of them dead.'

Beckett had thought of that one too, and the similarities were hitting close to home. 'Well, just because he was murdered at the school doesn't mean it was school-related. That could have been opportunity. We need to speak to his husband, neighbours, anyone who saw him during his school morning routine.'

She spun away from the murder board to answer her ringing phone. 'Beckett.'

'Detective? It's Sarah Ritter, from Calliope Thrace?'

'Sarah, yes I remember you. What's up?'

The girl gave a little sigh. 'I told my parents I thought I might have had something with peanuts in it, and they dragged me to the hospital and the doctor says I was exposed to peanut oil some-time this morning.'

'What hospital are you at?'

'Saint Vincent's, since it's closest to my school and-'

'I'm going to send Detective Brennan, he was with me this morning, to talk to you, your parents and your doctor. Don't move, he'll find you.'

Beckett hung up, threw a wad of paper at Adam's head to get his attention. 'Detective, you need to go talk to Sarah Ritter, she was admitted to Saint Vincent's with signs of anaphylactic reaction to peanuts this mornin.'

'On it.'

'Oh and try not to bang your almost-wife in an empty on-call room.'

Adam just grinned. 'Wouldn't dream of it, Beckett.'

* * *

The wait at the hospital was slightly longer, even with a flash of the badge to the desk nurse - an outbreak of hayfever had sent everyone and their mothers running for the fast-track clinic and ER, meaning all medical staff was overrun with the sneezing and sniffling.

Finally, after nearly forty-five minutes of waiting Adam saw the doctor coming towards him.

'Detective, my apologies, it's been a busy morning. This way.'

'What can you tell me about what caused Sarah to have the reaction?' Adam asked as he followed her towards a treatment room.

'It was nearly pure, without preservatives, which means that she didn't accidentally ingest it with something she ate. This was an airborn irritant, more than likely she was in an area where peanut oil had been used.'


	7. Straight Talk

Adam felt his gut tighten up when he went into the treatment room with the doctor, saw Sarah still in her school uniform stretched out on the gurney and playing on her phone. The adults that had come to collect her at the school were there, sitting on the left side of the bed, the woman looking like she was forcing herself to stay cool while the man nervously jiggled his leg.

'Dean, Georgette, this is Detective Brennan from the NYPD. He has some questions for your daughter.'

'I remember you,' Georgette said, lifting her head in a slight nod of recognition. 'You were there with your partner, the female detective, asking what Sarah did this morning at school.'

'There's a little more to it than that, Georgie,' Sarah said, then looked at the doctor. 'So, am I sprung or what?'

'When Sarah mentioned she was feeling ill we thought it best to bring her in, just in case,' Dean explained.

'I'm going to be seventeen in March and he acts like I don't know enough to read labels and be careful.' Sarah rolled her eyes, but she smiled as her father kissed her temple.

'You're my one and only baby, of course I'm going worry when your allergies flare.'

'Dean, you're embarrassing her in front of the cute detective,' Georgette admonished her husband and offered a sympathetic smile. 'I do apoligize, sir. What is it you want to talk to us about?'

'I wanted to go over the timeline and your symptoms Sarah. You arrived in Professor Hill's room at what time?'

'At eight-ten. I was half-way there from the cafe when I heard the warning bell.'

'You had class with him for forty-five minutes, correct? Were you feeling your symptoms then?'

Sarah thought about it, then shook her head. 'No, Detective, I didn't.'

'Not to be rude,' Georgette interrupted, 'but we've told this to the doctor already. What is gained from going over it again? Can't you just read his report?'

'Georgie, he's a cop,' Sarah said, as if this should be obvious to the most brain-dead idiot. 'He's got different reasons for asking, right Detective Brennan?'

'Exactly, Sarah. When did you next class start?'

'Five after nine. It runs until nine-fifty, but sometimes Professor Hill will...' Sarah trailed off, her chin wobbling, but she held it together. 'He'd sometimes let us play hookie and go see the music class for the last ten minutes if we demonstrated a high-efficiency work ethic.'

'It was during your second class with him that you began to feel sick, right?'

'Yeah it was...it was right around the same time that Nicky Tee came in the room and sat down in the desk diagonal to mine.'

Georgette hissed through her teeth, gave her husband's arm a swat. 'I told you, Sarah should have asked for a different sponsor! That boy is always breaking the rules because he thinks they don't apply to him!'

'Would you care to elaborate, Missus Ritter?' Adam asked, neatly segueing into the next part of his questioning.

'He's never respected the allergy rules of the school. He's had suspensions over it twice.' Georgette let out a huff of indignation; the single sound had Adam realizing this woman, despite Sarah's lack of the title for her, was the teenage girl's mother where it counted. 'Some parents even wanted him expelled after the last one.'

'What

'Georgie, you're blowing it out of proportions,' Sarah tried to protest, and focused on Adam. 'In our biology class last year, we all had to sign on for a different bodily function. I did mine how the saliva glands work. Nicky Tee did his on allergic reactions and he...got a little carried away with his demonstration.'

'Carried away? They had to call the paramedics when Roland McFarland broke into hives from being around the dairy samples he was using.'

'Roland McFarland, he's the other student in your independent study period?' Adam asked.

'Yeah, he is, but he's gone to Scotland for a family wedding all week.'

'Okay.' He made notes, then looked at Sarah. 'Did anyone else in the school or staff know that Professor Hill was deathly allergic to peanuts, like you?'

'It's one of those things that's like a, what are they called, well-known secrets,' she replied, 'just like everyone knows our French teacher writes Harlequin romance novels on the side and our phys-ed professor used to play for the Jets. We knew better than to even think about peanut butter in Professor Hill's presence.'

'What are you driving at, Detective,' Dean asked with the worry only a parent could fathom.

'Just trying to get some background on the victim, Mister Ritter.' Adam rose, took his card out of his pocket. 'I know Beckett gave you one of these too, but it never hurts to have a back-up.'

Sarah took the card, her pretty plump cheeks going pink when her fingertips brushed his as she took the card. 'Thank you.'

Adam nodded and left the room; the moment he was clear of the hospital he dialed Beckett's cellphone. 'Hey, we need to look even more in depth at Nicky Tomasi.'

'I'm right there with you. I got the disciplinary files from Anna Leung and guess who has a pretty detailed school wrap-sheet?'

'I'm going with the Easter bunny.'

'Nah, he's a chocolate pusher, that's a legal stimulant. Nicky Tomasi's file says that he's on what the school called the Hit-List.'

'Tell me more, bwana,' Adam said and Beckett had to laugh.

'When you get back to the precinct.'

Beckett hung up, then looked at the murder board as she waited for the warrant to come through from Markaway. She couldn't shake the feeling like she needed to call her son, or at the least email him, before she could move forward with the case. Adam was good since he had the prep-school background to speak the language of potential suspects but she knew how to handle the parents on this one. She had a different perspective being the parent between the two of them.

Pulling out her iPhone she opened her personal email app and sent a quick message to RJ's school email - _hey my little prince, hope you're having a good day. We're working hard to catch the bad guys. Are you going to have a lot of homework tonight? Love Mumum xoxo._

Beckett pressed _Send_ and put her phone back in her pocket almost like Leo Bloom with his blue blanket. That was step one; step two would happen in two minutes. She picked up her deskphone and dialed home, smiling when she heard her husband's voice.

'Unless this is my wife offering me very naughty official NYPD lunch-time sex, go away

'You have half of that demand right.'

'Hey, sweetie. How's your day going.'

'Umm...' Suddenly at a loss for words, Beckett scratched the back of her head; her short silence was the only opening Castle needed.

'Kate, what's going on?'

'I...a teacher was poisoned this morning at Calliope Thrace. Someone put peanut oil in his coffee sending him into anaphylactic shock-'

'You think it'd be wise to keep RJ home a few days?'

'I don't know, I...schools are supposed to be safe,' she blurted out. 'You never think twice about sending your kid to a building full of other kids and adults, but you're sending them into the world alone to a certain degree, right?'

'Kate, RJ goes to a very good school, you and I both know that, and we also know this isn't the first time Calliope Thrace has had problems. Remember those foreign exchange students?'

'That was one of my first cases when you were on your writing sabbatical.'

'Exactly.'

Beckett heard Castle shift in his leather office chair, click a few keys on his laptop. 'They've got a history already, and I wouldn't be surprised if everyone there gives you full co-operation so they can get over their shady past and present and move on.'

'Well, the deputy headmistress is pretty forthcoming, but there's still something about the timeline that isn't right, so- oh, I gotta go,' she interrupted herself as she saw the email icon pop on her computer screen. 'Warrants just came through for the phone and financial records.'

'Go get'em Detective.'

'Sorry you didn't get your lunch-time phone sex.'

'Guess I'll have to settle for the real thing later tonight.'


	8. One Thing After Another

By the time Adam returned from the hospital with the statement from Sarah Ritter, Beckett was hip-deep in financial records that made her want to cry from the sheer volume of them. Legal bills always generated reams and reams of bank statements, and Hill's case was no exception.

'How did it go with Sarah at the hospital?' she asked without looking up.

'Really well, though my findings aren't going to make you happy.'

Now Beckett did look up from the paper trail she'd generated and narrowed her eyes at him. 'What the hell does that mean?'

'Good news, Sarah will be fine, but the bad news is her version of the events lines up that someone brought in something with raw peanut oil between nine-oh-five and nine twenty.'

'That's very specific.'

'Sarah said she felt fine until Nicky got there, that's when she started feeling crumby and the teacher took her to the ladies room to make sure she got there in one piece. The only thing that changed was his arrival and he's got a history of not following allergy protocols.'

'You're right.' Beckett held up Nicky's disciplinary file. 'Two in-school suspensions and extra-curricular probation last year for the incidents. And while I agree he does look like a good suspect right now, there are a few others on the hit list too.'

'Oh?'

'Mm-hmm.' She pulled out another file, found its summary sheet. 'Three students filed grievances against Wayne Hill, two academic and one personal, and even better, they had dismissal slips during the time of the murder.'

'You send me to the hospital and you find all this out? Should I be insulted I was rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic?'

'Adam, come on.'

'Alright, alright. I'm just-'

'Getting antsy about the wedding and wanting something to take your mind off it,' Beckett finished for him with a smile. 'Just like Espo and Ryan and Gil all were, and just like my husband was too. It's okay, just don't let it bleed into your worklife.'

'I'll try.'

'Good. Isn't your bachelor party this weekend, too?'

Adam nodded, folded his arms on his chest. 'Yeah, and what's that about work and personal space?'

'OKay, you got me. Clap me in irons.'

'I'd rather do that to that little twerp Nicky Tee.'

Beckett bounced the tip of her pen on her ink blotter calendar. 'What is it about that kid that has given you such a hate-on for him?'

'He's the microcosm of my teenage misery. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't unpopular or unliked, just the really rich kids-'

'The kind like Nicky-'

'-They made my life hell.' Adam scratched the back of his head. 'I'd like nothing more than to stick him with a murder charge to prove to him that charm and money and a name don't mean shit when you're a cold son of a bitch.'

'Now that I can buy, but in the meantime we've got a couple other suspects that warrant some investigation too.' Beckett passed him a few pages from the disciplinary file. 'Starting with these characters.'

Adam dragged over a chair, sat down to read. She'd given him the two academic grievances, both being very similar complaints against Hill. The first was Dexter McBride - he'd stated that he'd had immovable family plans the day of the entrance exam to the AP algebra and geometry course and had scheduled the exam on his own time with a tutor and official proctor to oversee it, well within the parameters set out by the AP course governing board. Hill had been unbending, stating that he could not make an exception for someone who decided that flying to Antigua a day before March break officially began was more important than his academic future. As a result, Dexter had not been admitted to the fall program and was forced to take it as a summer semester class, meaning the kid had been denied nearly half his summer vacation.

The second one, Ashley Archer, had also had immovable family plans regarding her AP entrance exam only hers was not a vacation, it had been bereavement as her grandmother had passed away three days before the exam date and she'd been required to go to Ohio for the funeral planning and services. She'd made arrangements much like Dexter had and taken the exam with a tutor and official proctor on the reccommended make-up date. Just as with Dexter, Hill had been unwilling to yield in the slightest, stating that if Ashley had known of her grandmother's illness prior to that week, she should have spoken to him and informed him sooner than she did.

The day of the murder, Dexter and Ashley had both been circulating in the school to promote an upcoming spirit event against their archrivals; incidentally Calliope Thrace had a long-standing rivalry going with Marlowe Prep for boy's soccer. Plenty of motive and opportunity to slip away for a moment, and since they were also in classes with Nicky, it was plausible enough for the teenager to cover for his friends. Whether he knew or not that would make him an accessory after the fact Adam wasn't sure but he knew from just the initial meeting with the little punk that he'd have no compunction aiding a murderer.

'Who do you want to take first?' Beckett asked.

'Can I have them both, and you can go blind on financial records?'

Beckett gave him a wary look but nodded, and turned back to her computer as Adam went to his phone to make contact with the families and request interviews with them. She really wanted to get started on the phone records and the financials - okay not really but she wanted them done and out of the way and that meant to finish them she had to start them.

She'd just touched the tip of her highlighter to the first page of phone-calls when she sensed a body hovering near her desk. A quick glance up had her smile impatiently. 'Watkins, how can I help you?'

'There's a Mister Peter Jonas here to see you about the Wayne Hill investigation?'

'Right, send him over.'

Beckett shelved her annoyance at being staled once more on the paperwork side of things but she'd told Adam as much that this case would be very messy people-wise and a small part of her was glad to be proven right. She turned around the crime scene photos so the victim's estranged husband wouldn't see them as Watkins brought him over. The man was slender, built much like Ryan and had such a pale milky complexion Beckett had to wonder if when they'd been together he and his hubby hadn't been called Ebony and Ivory.

'Mister Jonas, thank you for coming down.' Beckett rose to shake his hand and she could see in his muddy green eyes the signs of shock and disbelief, and the signs of weeping. 'I'm so sorry for your loss.'

She held out her arm to gesture him towards the visitor's lounge, followed him in where she poured herself a fresh plain coffee. 'Can I offer you a coffee or a cold drink?'

'No, thank you, I...God, I can't believe Wayne is really gone.' Peter took a seat on the worn couch, leaned forward so his elbows rested on his knees, eyes downcast. 'Our marriage fell apart but it doesn't mean I didn't still care about his well-being.'

'What was the root of your breakup?'

'He was cheating on me, with a woman,' Peter sneered. 'I think that makes it even worse than if I'd caught him with another man, because the answer to the ultimate question you ask a cheater was quite obvious. He didn't think I knew, but I knew. The spouse always knows.'

'Do you know who the woman was he was having the affair with?' Beckett asked, sitting down across from him and the man looked up at her now, eyes narrowed.

'I'm sorry, I don't see what this has to do with Wayne's death. I thought I was supposed to come down here and identify his body.'

'You'll have to speak to our medical examiner, Doctor Parrish-Robbins, who is looking after Wayne at the morgue. I'm the lead investigator into his death.' Beckett inched forward, hoping her body language would cut through his emotions. 'I need to ask questions like this. I'm not being salacious, but if you tell me he was having an affair with a woman, he could have broken things off and she could have poisoned his coffee, causing him to go into anaphylactic shock.'

'God.' Peter shuddered visibly, huffed out a breath. 'Carolina. Carolina Witt, she's a teacher in his department at the school.'


	9. More Details to Follow

'You're certain of that?'

'Yeah. I...when Wayne got home late one night I asked if I could use his number to order our dinner since we don't have a land-line and my phone was charging up,' Peter explained, taking out his own phone. 'I scrolled through his texts and saw them all from the same number. I dialed it from my phone later, pretended to be a wrong number, but not before I forwarded one of those texts to my email so I'd have proof.'

Beckett took the phone from him, saw the message and felt her heart break for the man - _hey lover, think we can fit in a bump and grind after volleyball practice tonight?_

'I let him keep thinking he was getting away with it, until a few months ago at commencement. There was a faculty party held in the Mariott on Lexington, and about an hour after we got there I noticed Wayne had disappeared. I went up to the room we were sharing at the hotel for the night and before I used my card...' Peter trailed off, no longer saddened but trying to clamp down on righteous fury. 'I turned on the video app on my phone, so I could catch them in bed together.'

'I take it you did?'

Peter's laugh was sharp and brittle like frozen glass. 'You might say that. I caught him with his face between her thighs and her moaning like a whore.'

'Oh, ouch,' Beckett said with genuine sympathy, not even wanting to contemplate what that kind of betrayal felt like. 'I'm so sorry Peter.'

'I didn't say anything for a few minutes, just recorded it until he lifted his head up so whoever watched the video would know it was him. He saw me standing there and I didn't yell, didn't throw anything. I just told him, it looks like you've made your choice and left. Even more telling he didn't come home that night.' He dragged a hand over his face, as if to erase the haunted memory. ' The next Monday morning I went to my lawyer and filed papers right away to dissolve our marriage.'

'Were you legally still his next of kin?'

'Yes, and your captain Karpowski was very good when she came to see me at my office. I just want to bury him, get it over with so I can move on once and for all. When will I be able to take him home?'

With that single, almost childishly-simple question Beckett knew they were done so she scribbled down a number on the back of one of her cards. 'This is the contact number and extension for the medical examiner taking care of him. Doctor Weaver is one of the best and he'll shoot straight with you.'

'I thought you said it was Doctor Parrish-Robbins?'

'Did I?' Too many distractions of a personal nature, Beckett scolded herself, c'mon Katie, you are better than that. 'My sincere apologies, it is Doctor Weaver who is looking after him.'

'Thank you.'

Peter stood up, and Beckett walked him to the elevator before returning to her desk where that pesky mountain of paperwork was still sitting. She looked around, saw Watkins leaving the ladies room. 'Watkins, just the droid I'm looking for.'

'I don't like the sound of that, Ar-Too,' she said with a grin. 'What's going on, boss?'

'I need you to work on some financial records for me, and some phone records.'

'Which way?' Watkins said, pointing her index fingers as she crossed her arms over her chest; her still-shiny engagement ring was glittering under the fluorescent lights.

'This way.'

Beckett led her over to her desk, handed her the stack of papers. 'You are looking for this number on the phone records, and any gift-for-girlfriends type purchases on his credit cards over the last nine months.'

'I thought I heard your guy was a big ol' 'mo like me.'

'Yep, and he was having an affair with his female co-worker.'

'Oh damn, that seriously sucks for his hubby.' Watkins shook her head sadly. 'I'll get started on this for you.'

'Thanks.'

Beckett watched her take her stuff off to the conference room, then made a beeline for Adam at his desk where he was just hanging up the phone with a look of annoyance on his face. 'Wedding or whiners?'

'Whiners,' he replied. 'How dare I have the audacity to think that precious little Ashley Archer would have anything to do with murder and if I want to speak to them again they will only do so with a lawyer present.'

'And the McBrides?'

'They know their kid was pissed off about it but Dexter's put it behind him since he got a stellar mark over the summer. Still want to talk to them though.'

'What's the Archers number?' Beckett asked, and Adam simply hit redial on his phone, passed her the receiver. When the line picked up by a very starchy and proper sounding butler, she put on her best friendly-servant-of-the-people voice.

'Archer residence, who is speaking?'

'This is Detective Kate Beckett of the NYPD. I need to speak with Mister or Missus McBride regarding the murder of Professor Wayne Hill at Calliope Thrace.'

'I've been instructed to inform you that if you continue to call, they will consider this harassment and you will be facing litigation, Miss Beckett.'

'It's Detective,' she corrected him sternly, dropping the gooey-smiles act, 'and I find it interesting that you consider two phone calls from the police harassment.'

'As I said, Miss Beckett, should you continue to harass my employers, they will have no recourse but to bring about a civil suit against you and this personal vendetta you've established against them. Good-day.'

The line went dead in her ear and Beckett pursed her lips, hung up the phone. 'Adam, get your coat. We're going to make a few house calls.'

'Oh goody.' Adam recognized the light of battle in her eyes and stood up, grabbed his suit jacket off the back of his chair. 'Who do we get to play with first?'

'The McBrides. We need to give the Archers time to simmer down before we spring it on them.' Beckett paused. 'Their toady little majordomo called me Miss Beckett.'

'No!'

'Twice.'

'Oh, please let me get some popcorn to nibble while I watch you take him apart,' Adam pleaded teasingly. 'A good show needs snacks to be thoroughly enjoyed.'

They pressed the button for the elevator, to head for the garage, when Beckett heard her phone chirp a new email message at her. Because they had a few moments, she took the time to read it and felt her grin widen.

_Hi Mumum! How do you have time to send me a little message! The bad-guys are gonna get away! Or do you not have a case hot and fresh to work on right now? I have asked my teachers about my school-work while we are in Bermuda and they said they will tell me on Monday what I have to take with me. I love you! Go get those bad guys! Love RJ xxoo._

Beckett laughed, shook her head. When it came to her work, RJ was straight as an arrow and twice as hard-lined. THere was no time for shenanigans of any kind on his watch, because that would give the criminals time to get away. Part of her wished sometimes she still had innocence like that, but on the other hand, everything she'd seen and said and done as a cop in the last nineteen years had made her into the person - the woman - she was today.

'Something funny Detective?'

Adam's question brought her back into the real world as the elevator doors opened on the garage level and they headed for Beckett's Crown Vic. 'RJ emailed me back on his computer time, and gave me a little tongue lashing for not getting the bad guys.'

'Well, if it's anything like what you're going to do to the Archers, you can securely know he comes by it naturally.'

'No popcorn Adam.'

'Aw, come on, how about pretzels?'

'No.'

'Chocolate almonds?'

'If you stop bugging me, I'll get you a treat when we're done with the Archers. Otherwise, you can do paperwork all afternoon with Watkins and miss out on the fun entirely.'

Adam, being a smart man, remained silent for the rest of the ride to Park Avenue.


	10. A Show and a Snack

The Archer's loft on Park Avenue was nothing less than what Adam and Beckett expected; to start with, a liveried doorman approached them with barely disguised contempt for Beckett's audacity to park square in front of the condo-complex's taxi and town-car slot.

'Miss,' he called out to her when she got out of the car along with Adam. 'Miss, I'm afraid you'll have to use the guest parking facilities across the street. They take cash and credit-card.'

'See this?' she replied, holding up her badge. 'This is my free parking card. That means my vehicle stays where it is until we're done upstairs with the Archers.'

'Miss-'

'And it's Detective,' she added, her chipper tone taking on a steel edge.

'Detective, you are not on the guest list for the Archers.'

'Again, you see this?' Beckett tapped her badge with the tip of her finger. 'This means free parking and I get to pass go and collect two hundred dollars. My colleague, Detective Brennan and I are here to speak with the Archers regarding a homicide this morning .'

'I cannot in good faith-'

'Detective Brennan?'

'Yes, Detective Beckett.' Adam hung back by the car, keeping his posture casual as he leaned against his closed door.

'Would you care to inform this individual what happened to the last doorman who decided his job was worth more than a murder investigation?'

'The last time that happened, Detective, the doorman was arrested for obstructing an officer in her sworn duty to protect and serve.'

'What happened next?' Beckett asked, cocking her head to the side like she was a puppy curious about the shiny new toy in front of her; her eyes never left the doorman's face.

'Next, sir, you pointed and laughed at him when he was in Holding after you came back from performing the interview anyways, successfully I might add.'

It was a bit of a stretch to the truth but Beckett knew it had the desired impact when she saw the doorman squirm. 'So in short, the guy wound up with a criminal record and I still got my way, right?'

'That's right.'

'You see,' she explained with a polite smile. 'All you're doing right now is wasting my time.'

'Very well.' The doorman somehow managed to sound like he was the insulted one as he escorted them into the building, directed them towards the elevator. Just as the doors opened, Beckett turned back as though she'd forgotten to tell him something important.

'Oh, and if you even think of calling the Archers and telling them Detective Brennan and I are on our way up we'll toss in a little aiding and abetting charge too.'

'Can we really do that?' Adam asked when the elevator doors slid shut in front of the gulping doorman, and Beckett shrugged.

'If any of the Archers are involved in Hill's death, him giving them a heads up falls under assisting a criminal. We'd toss him in a cage and throw away the key as far as I'm concerned.'

'I'm sorry, is this the same Kate Beckett who gave me a lecture just hours ago on not letting my personal feelings cloud my judgment towards the job?'

'Oh funny man,' she sneered at him as the elevator stopped at the penthouse's main entrance. 'Think you're some kinda smart don't you?'

'Smart-ass maybe, and proud of it,' was his jaunty rejoinder.

Beckett lifted her hand, pressed the bell; she gave Adam an elbow in the ribs to have his badge at the ready so they would not appear to be grasping at straws. When the door was opened, Beckett was glad to see she'd been proven right about one thing - the entire time she'd been talking to the butler on the phone, she'd pictured him as a stuffy and starchy Jeeves-type and he fit that bill to a T. He was in a prim black suit with a grey vest and black-and-grey striped tie. He was almost a full head shorter than Beckett and Adam both, and yet somehow managed to look down his nose at them even when he had to tilt his head back to look them in the eye.

'Who are you? How did you get into the building?' he demanded in his snooty English accent.

'Hi, I'm Detective Beckett, this is Detective Brennan,' she replied with her polite smile in place. They both held up their badges and Adam had to grin when he saw the butler's jaw muscles work beneath his pale skin.

'I believe you were told you had no right or no business questioning the Archers in the matter of a homicide.'

'See that's where you're wrong, Quartermain,' Adam replied, 'because Ashley Archer was in the school, not in her classroom during the time of the murder and she has a documented history with the victim.'

'That's preposterous. I will not have you barge in here and spread filthy lies about an upstanding family.'

The butler actually started to close the door in their faces and would have succeeded had it not been for the pixie-brunette who came skipping into the foyer in pressed jeans and a lemon-yellow hoodie.

'Ruskin, what are you doing? That's Detective Beckett, she's working with that other cop.' She pointed a delicate finger at Brennan. 'Sarah told me all about it and she said that they're only trying to do their jobs.'

'But your parents-'

'I don't give a flying wet fuck what those two brain-dead assholes say, especially my mother. All she cares about is the reputation of the school. Can you fetch the refreshments for our guests?'

With efficiently courteous dismissal, she turned to Beckett and Brennan and gave them an apologetic look. 'Sometimes parents trying to protect their kids cause more problems than they realize. I'm Ashley Archer, I'm friends with Sarah and she told me you'd probably want to talk to me. This way.'

She turned towards a parlour, and motioned for them to sit down. In a strange sort of way, the girl reminded Beckett of Alexis - born into wealth and obviously not wanting for any material luxury but she was also grounded and clearly far more realistic than her parents. Ashley sat herself down into a Queen Anne wingback chair, while Beckett and Brennan took a seat on the matching sofa on the opposite side of the polished mahogany coffee table.

'Before we say anything to you,' Brennan asked her, 'how old are you, Ashley?'

'I'm sixteen and if my parents had their way, I'd keep my mouth shut and make it difficult for you to do your jobs. I have every intention of co-operating one-hundred percent with you. Thank you, Ruskin,' she added sweetly when the butler came in with a tray of lemonade and shortbread. 'I know it's not coffee and doughnuts, but I thought you might like something different.'

'You sound like you might have been anticipating us.'

'I was.' Ashley took a plate and put two shortbread snaps on it, ignored the lemonade for the moment. 'I was standing right there when you were on the phone with them and I was so pissed off when they said they were going to get a lawyer just because you wanted to do your jobs and find out who killed Professor Hill. That's where they are right now, by the way. So let's get this done before they come back.'

'Very well.' AS Beckett could appreciate her candor, she inched forward, took a cookie. 'We know you had issues with Professor Hill last year regarding the AP entrance test.'

'Yeah, I did. My nana died and apparently that wasn't exactly a good enough reason for missing the date of the entrance test even though I scored higher on my own test than most of the kids in the class taking it with Hill. He wouldn't let me in to the class and even though my mother tried to pull some strings because she's on the faculty.' Ashley gave them a little shrug. 'I said no and took the class over the summer with Dexter McBride and now I've got time to study more for chemistry and music.'

She sighed, poured lemonade. 'I'm also on school council and was making the rounds for the grade nine classes during the time of the murder. We don't say freshmen since grade numbers are more international. I was in the grammar and literature class when things went down with Hill.'

'Back up just a moment.' Beckett held up a hand. 'Your mother is on the staff at Calliope Thrace?'

'Yeah, her majesty Carolina Witt. She teaches biology and coaches volleyball.'


	11. Breaking Down the Walls

Beckett felt a punch in her gut, as did Brennan for different reasons, but she kept her voice calm as she said, 'How did your mother take it when you didn't get into Hill's class?'

'She was pretty pissed off, called him an unreasonable prick prejudiced against those who came from money, but the shit didn't hit the fan until I said I'd take the class with Dexter and his tutor over this summer,' Ashley replied. 'I was perfectly fine with having morning class and then spending my afternoons volunteering or with my friends out on Strawberry Island. Kept me away from this place plenty.'

'Things aren't good at home?'

'Kinda hard to explain,' Ashley said, refilling her lemonade and pouring a glass for Adam as well. 'My mother would vent to me about things not my business.'

'What kind of business? It's not gossip, Ashley,' Adam added, anticipating her hesitation.

'My dad thought once I was in high-school my mom would give up teaching and plan luncheons and charity events. My mom confides in me like I'm one of her girlfriends and not her child how my dad's a jerk, he doesn't understand, bla-bla-bla. Meanwhile I'm like, Mom, this is your shit not mine, don't suck me into your drama. Hence the not-minding summer school.'

She played it off with a casual shrug that told Adam it had pissed the mother off the daughter was not who she wanted her to be. Then he got lemonade up his nose when he took a sip from his glass as Ashley added, 'Besides, who is she to act like a martyr when she's been fucking some guy since at least New Year's Eve?'

'Excuse me?' Beckett blinked, passed Adam napkins.

'Everyone knows thinks the spouse always knows, but my dad is so swamped with trying to make sure he isn't lynched or fired because he's a Wall-Street banker who didn't get taken down when the crash came that he hasn't seen the signs.' Ashley frowned, sipped the last of her lemonade. 'In our family, it's the daughter. Mom didn't think I'd notice that smell on her.'

'You're pretty savvy for a sixteen-year-old.'

'I'm a high-school student at a five-figures-a-semester for tuition private school,' she pointed out. 'We probably party harder than some rock-stars simply because we've got the money too, and that includes being able to pick out which of my friend's have gone into a guest room and gotten naked with their flavour of the night.'

'Ashley, we don't-'

'Please, let me get it out.' Ashley's voice suddenly turned shaky. 'I haven't even told my friends I know this. I didn't even write it in my diary.'

'Okay.'

'I...I spent New Year's Eve with my friends Gabe, Edie and Ariel at Edie's family's cottage on Strawberry Island, my parents were in the city. I was volunteering at a homeless shelter, and I thought I was going to be heading right out there after I was done my shift but I realized I'd forgotten my pills for my back and I'd need them over the weekend, so I came home. I didn't think anyone was home since no lights were on, so I went to my room, and that's when I her it.'

'Heard what?'

'I, ah...I heard her, very loudly and very clearly say...' Ashely trailed off, her cheeks a flaming red as she clenched her eyes shut. 'She was moaning and telling him to stick his tongue in her pussy, then she let out this cry and said 'just like that, baby, just like that', and then she screamed she was...y'know...'

'Having an orgasm?' Beckett prompted her, knowing what the woman had probably said in the throes of passion.

'Yeah, only not in those words.' Ashley set her glass down and pressed her palms to her cheeks. Her fingertips were cold from the cold drink and felt good on her enflamed skin. 'Then I could hear them both grunting and panting so I got my pills and got the hell out of there. By the time my subway got to the Strawberry Island ferry I was a little more leveled out, and thankfully none of my friends questioned me getting drunk that night.'

'Your mom and her lover, they didn't hear you leave?' Adam asked her, and the teenager leveled him with a look as only a woman could do.

'Detective, if I'd jumped on the bed banging a wooden spoon on a soup pot they wouldn't have noticed me.'

'You don't know who it was though?'

Ashley shook her head. 'No, I never heard her use his name once, and if she did, it wasn't when I was around.'

As Beckett knew what it would have cost the girl to admit something so embarrassingly personal, she stood up, moved to kneel in front of the girl. 'I know it's gotta be tough to think of this, but can you remember any other details? Did you recognize his shoes, his cologne, anything?'

'Truthfully, I still can't get a good night's sleep and I...any time I see a movie with a woman screaming out her enjoyment of sex, all I can think of is that night hearing her, and...'

Neither detective said a word as the tough-talking teenager dissolved into sobs like a humiliated child, because that's exactly what she was. Adam moved to pass her some tissues while Beckett rubbed her hand gentle on Ashley's knee.

'Ashley I want to give you the name of a doctor who's really good to talk to about this kind of stuff.'

'Okay.' Ashley dipped her hand into the pocket of her hoodie, pulled out her phone to type in the number and extension Beckett gave her. 'That's Doctor Weaver's number over at the Healing Hands clinic. She's affiliated with Stuyvesant Memorial and she's specializing in youth psychiatry.'

'How do you know her?'

'She's my daughter.'

'Thanks.' Ashley took the Kleenex Adam offered and sighed when the phone rang. Moments later, Ruskin the butler came rushing in.

'Miss Ashley, I just had a call from the doorman. Your parents are on their way up.'

'Thanks Ruskin.' Ashley stood up, looked at Adam. 'Do I look like I've been crying?'

'Not at all,' Adam replied honestly, then gave his card to Ashley. 'That's my contact information as well. If you think you remember something off about today, this morning, please let me know. And take Beckett's advice on it too, Doctor Weaver's the best at talking to troubled people.'

'Says the voice of experience?' Ashley asked with a wry smile.

Adam knew it would be breaching protocol slightly to tell Ashley about Lindsay's experience, but he did nonetheless and he saw the light of understanding in the girl's eyes.

'Okay. I'll give her a call.'

She'd no sooner tucked the card and her phone back into her pockets when the door burst open and Beckett saw the woman with her nervous eyes, the man with his tired ones rush into the parlour and glare at the cops in their home.

'How dare you come into our home and question our daughter like some street thug,' Carolina hissed.

'Mom, I told Ruskin to let them in. I want to deal with this and be done with it,' Ashley said calmly, and her father nearly snarled.

'You had nothing to do with Professor Hill's death and I'm both shocked and disgusted by your complete lack of sensitivity, Detective.'

'Sensitivity?' Beckett asked innocently as she put her thumbs in her back pockets.

'My wife and daughter have been through a horrible trauma and you come in here acting like they've done something wrong. You should be looking at the scholarship kids, the ones who are only there because of a handout and come from poor, degenerate families with liars and cheats for parents.'

'Funny, I'd think they'd be the least likely to cause problems since they know what a privilege a school like that is. And the more your keep this up , the more I believe there's a secret connecting you to the victim you don't want anyone to find out about.'

Beckett stared straight at Carolina as she said it and was very pleased when the woman swallowed tellingly. 'Thank you for your time today, Ashley, we'll be in touch.'

When they were back on the street, before they got back in their car Beckett crossed the street towards a bodega with Adam hot on her heels. 'Why are we going for a snack?'

'I told you if you were a good boy, you'd get a treat. You want a churro or some Skittles?'


	12. Bad Boys

Because Adam knew he would be labeled a stingy bitch if he didn't share, he got a whole box of churros while Beckett went for the laugh and got herself some kettle corn. They held off on the snacks until they returned to the precinct and discovered Watkins had been a busy little uniform.

'Are those doughnuts?' she asked, eying up the box Adam brought into the conference room where she'd set up shop.

'What have you got for us on the victim's financial files?'

'Plenty of things that would have made his ex's lawyers weep in joy. Are those doughnuts?'

'Let's start with the regular accounts.' Beckett tried to keep her cop on track but Watkins was a lost cause.

'Brennan, you have two seconds to share those doughnuts or it's gonna get ugly,' the officer informed the detective, and Adam grinned.

'These aren't doughnuts, they're-'

But Watkins was already reaching over and popping the lid on the box, groaning. 'You sick, sick bastard. You were holding out on me with friggin' churros? And not just churros, fresh, delicious homemade ones too! Ugh, men. This is why I like being a lesbian, I know how another woman's mind works. What kinds?'

'Cinnamon sugar, chocolate, and some kind of fruit.' Adam pointed them out to his colleague, and wasn't surprised when Watkins took one of each, plunked down in her chair.

'So, right, financials,' she said around a mouthful of sweet pastry. 'Wayne Hill was barely breathing his bills had such a chokehold on him. His hubby was taking him to the cleaners and the fact Wayne was unfaithful with a woman is not earning him any sympathy points. Even after he cut back just about every luxury he had, he was almost at the point of needing to either take out a loan or declare bankruptcy.'

'What about his credit cards? We got confirmation from a second party today that the woman he was involved with was Carolina Witt.'

'Oh, boy, you're gonna love this.' Watkins crammed in the last bite of her first churro, started on the second one like a beaver in need of a sugar-fix. 'He had the joint credit card from his marital account, his own for his personal use, one he used for all school related events and another just for taking out his girlfriend.'

'Four credit cards. Wow.' Adam shook his head. 'No wonder the guy's got money issues. Why is it always the teachers don't know how to control their finances?'

'Same reason cops are called pigs. Don't know how it started but that seems to be the trend,' Beckett replied. 'What can you tell me about the credit card for taking out the girlfriend?'

'Every last nickel he spent on her was from that card, even cash.' Watkins handed over a file that contained Hill's credit card statements from the last fifteen months. 'He'd get an advance and whatever wasn't used, he'd go to that bank and put it back in. Oh, and even better, he'd rented a mailbox at a post-office outlet right across the street from the school. I called over and guess who has the other key?'

'Caroline Witt?'

'The very same Carolina Witt who is also on staff at Calliope Thrace.' She gave a delicate shudder. 'I can't even imagine what it'd be like to have your spouse cheat on you, nevermind that they were playing for the other team while doing it.'

'He bought her gifts and things like that?'

'Jewellery, lingerie, movies, tickets to theatre. They even took a trip to Aruba where they stayed at an Eagle-Bay adjacent hotel.'

'I'm starting to wonder if this guy was gay at all,' Beckett scoffed.

'What does that mean?'

'Eagle-Bay is a world-famous nude beach, Watkins,' she said; when Adam flushed red as a beetroot, she had to arch an eyebrow at him. 'What?'

'Lindsay and I are spending a week in Aruba at the same hotel for our honey-moon.'

'Adam, you're going on your honey-moon with the woman of your dreams, you'd probably turn any beach you went to with Lindsay into a nude beach. This one just happens to do it legally. What else Watkins?'

Watkins cleared her throat of churro crumbs. 'CSU did a sweep of his computer found he had all his bills not shared with Peter done paperlessly, and he sent them to an email used only for that purpose.'

'Knock-knock.'

All three looked over to see Esposito and Ryan hovering in the doorway, holding up a file folder. 'Beckett you got a moment for this one?'

'Sure.'

Beckett left and Adam went back to looking at the credit card statements, hoping his face wasn't as red as he thought it was. It was embarrassing enough to know that everyone knew he and Lindsay were going on a honeymoon - everyone knew what that word really meant - but now that one of the cops knew he was taking his new wife to a nudist colony's hotel, he figured he was going to have to switch precincts at the very least. Maybe even stop being a cop altogether for a while.

'Adam?'

'Mmm.'

'I think it's romantic you're taking Lindsay to Eagle Bay.'

Adam let the sheet he'd lifted from the top of the file slip from his fingers before he looked up at dreamy-eyed Watkins. 'Excuse me?'

'I think it's romantic you're spending part of your honeymoon doing that.' Watkins gave a little shrug. 'Everyone expects a honeymoon to be full of wild hot sex because you're so giddy with new marriage all over you. You're both being honest about it, not pretending it's not going to happen. Plus when you're literally that naked and vulnerable with someone you love, well, that's very sweet.'

Adam thought of the first time he'd seen Lindsay nude - they'd gone paintballing about a month or so after they'd begun dating and they'd gone back to his apartment where they'd shared a shower. She'd told him she wanted to be naked with him in a functional way so she could get used to the idea of physical intimacy, and he'd understood this was the first time she'd been this intimate with a man since her rape. The most physical they'd gotten in that shower was for them to rub soap down each other's bodies and then share a kiss. They had been very vulnerable and naked with each other then too, so to his amazement, Watkins was right - spending some time on a nude beach in their first days as husband and wife would be quite romantic.

'Adam?'

'Huh?'

'Your phone's ringing.'

'Oh, thanks.' He looked at the display, then at Watkins. 'Officer?'

'Right.'

'Hey, baby,' Adam purred into his phone once Watkins had left. 'How's my almost-wife?'

'Good, just missing you. I'm sitting here in a bath tub all hot and wet and wishing you were here to help me...relax.' Lindsay's smile spread wide when she heard Adam's low groan of frustration. 'You alone right now?'

'Unless you count Little Adam who wants to pop up and say hello.'

'I put together out toy box for our honeymoon after I woke up this morning, and I got us a new copy of _Dear Diary, _the double issue for men and women.'

'Ooh, I like the sound of that.'

'Wanna give it a try right now?'

Adam blinked, held out his phone to look at it in disbelief. 'Lindsay, I'm on the clock.'

'In this story, a young woman is on the co-'

'Yes, Lindsay, we'll have dinner together tonight, I'll be home on time,' he said smoothly as Beckett and Watkins came back in and for once, Adam found himself actually thinking of downers, things like the end of the world would mean no more Big Macs, Kentucky Derbies or hot baths with lime-verbena fizzing salts.

'Can I be your bowl for ice cream?'

'Absolutely we'll have ice cream for dessert. Love you.'

'Love you too.'

'Now that you're done with the pillow-talk with Lindsay, Detective Brennan,' Beckett said with a wry smile.

'You little snitch,' Adam hissed playfully at Watkins, who gave an exaggerated pout.

'I am not a snitch!'

'RJ, Jojo, knock it off,' Beckett teased them both; calling them by her children's names had them both shutting their mouths momentarily. 'We are going to have plenty of time to play next week. Right now, we have a murder to solve.'


	13. Relaxation & Reassurance

By the time they finished pouring through the records, it was end of shift and Beckett wanted to be out on-time, to talk to her children about what happened that day, especially her son. Many of the children at his school knew RJ's mother was a cop, the kind of cop who made the papers with her cases and they'd probably already heard early news reports on this one as it was.

Even more simply than that, Beckett wanted to hug her son after a tough day.

She unlocked the door of the apartment, and smiled when she heard she'd walked in mid-way through a conversation on airports.

'But why we need pishal bookies?'

'Because those tell the people at the airport we are allowed to fly and go places, that we aren't bad guys trying to run away from the police.'

'Oh. But why no' need'um fo' goin'-a Fuh-loh-da?'

'Because Florida is part of the United States,' RJ explained to his little sister, then grinned when he looked up. 'Look, Mumum's home! She can probably explain it better than me.'

'Mumum!' Jojo twisted in her seat and saw Beckett, scampered over to give her a hug. 'Mumum, we talkin' 'bout bookies.'

'Bookies?'

'Uh-huh, Ah-Shay say we use 'pishal bookies on a puh-lane.'

'Oh, you mean your passport? Those are for when you fly to another country.'

'I told her it was to show the airport police that you aren't a bad guy, and that you aren't running away from police like you or Uncle Gil or Mister Chief Montgomery.'

'He jus' a boy, he no' so suh-mar',' Jojo scoffed and Beckett laughed out-loud, scooped her daughter into her arms to give her a smacking kiss.

'Jojo, my bumblebee, I love you so much.'

'Love you too, Mumum.' Jojo sweetly pecked her mother's cheek, then pointed at RJ. 'Him too.'

'Yes, I love Mumum too,' RJ agreed, waiting until Jojo was back on her feet before giving his mother a hug. He patted her back, and when she drew back, he caught her face in his little hands, turned her head side-to-side. 'You have your sad eyes on. What happened today, was it a very bad day at work?'

'You sad Mumum?' Jojo's eyes went wide and round. 'No, no being sad, Mumum, it almost time fo' our tuh-rip! I know!'

Jojo wandered into her father's office where she saw him, hard at work, fingers flying over his computer keys. Without thinking twice, she walked over to him and crawled right into his lap so his view of his screen would be blocked by her body. 'Daddy, Mumum home an' Ah-Shay say she haffa sad face on.'

'Oh, I bet she does, it was a difficult case she got today,' Castle told his daughter. 'She probably wants some time alone with RJ tonight.'

'Okay, we 'tay here. We say, it okay be 'lone an' talk now.' Without missing a beat Jojo turned around, sat in his lap and stared at the screen with the page full of words she didn't know how to read. 'What we workin' on?'

'Nothing that can't wait for a moment, bumblebee.' Castle saved his work, pulled his chair closer to the desk so Jojo could touch the track-pad of the laptop. 'You feel like playing some Mah-Jong?'

'No, no Mah-Shun, I wanna puh-lay Joo-lee Bugs!'

'Jewel Bugs? Don't you ever get tired of that game, Jojo?'

'Daddy, tha' like bein' tired fo' icy cuh-ream.'

Castle had to chuckle; Jojo never got tired of ice cream. 'Okay,' he told her, pulling up the game software. 'You want a new game or keep working on our Crown of Fire?'

Back in the living room, as Beckett heard the sounds of Jojo's favourite game coming from Castle's office, she took RJ's hand and led him over to the couch where she sat down across from him, looked at her beautiful little boy. He was getting way too big on her, he was almost seven and already in grade two, and getting more and more protective of his sister by the day it seemed.

'Mumum, why are you sad to be home and see us?' RJ asked her. 'Did my teacher call you? Was I bad at school?'

'No, not at all RJ, but...you might hear it from some of the big kids at school tomorrow and Friday, that there was a teacher killed at a private school, the one where you were going to go instead of Marlowe Prep if you didn't get in there.'

'Oh no, that is so sad!'

'If you ever feel unsafe at school RJ, or one of the other kids is being mean to you, you never ever keep it to yourself, okay? You go and tell an adult or an older kid you trust to do the right thing.'

'I promise, Mumum.' RJ made a little X over his heart, then gave her a hug. 'No wonder you wanted to make sure I was okay today!'

Beckett kissed the top of RJ's head, breathed deep the cookie smell of her baby. He always smelled like cookies. 'Schools are supposed to be safe places, and when they're not, that means mumums and daddies get very scared.'

'But you're not scared of anything!'

'Oh, yes I am. Of people hurting their eyes, of sharks in the ocean, of something happening to you or Daddy or Jojo or Alexis. And vegetables on my pizza,' she added, making him laugh.

'Veggies on your pizza aren't something to be afraid of.'

'Oh yes they are,' Beckett insisted and RJ giggled harder.

'Okay, I know what you mean, Mumum, but my school is a very good school. We have cameras and locked doors and all our teachers make sure we don't bring things to school that might hurt other kids.' It was a funny thing, RJ realized, to be the one reassuring his mother. Usually it was the other way around, and was a little freaky to see her so worried. The last time he remembered that happening was when Jojo had been just a super-little baby and her skin had been itchy and red from the wrong soap on her clothes. 'I'm super-safe there, except from science class I don't li.'

'Ah, but science class is important if you want to be a chef.'

'How?'

'Because you learn about what temperature things need to cook at, and how to tell if your chicken is cooked so it doesn't make you sick, and how to make your sauces thicken up. All those things come from science.'

'Oh.' RJ frowned, made a cute little face. 'Maybe, when I am in high-school, is there a food-science class?'

'I think so.'

'Okay. Then maybe I'll just suck it up and deal with it. Isn't that what you say to Daddy when he's being a big puss-face?'

'Puss-face?' Bekcett fought not to laugh.

'Uh-huh, that's what Shane says his boss acts like when he gets cranky, Doctor Pearlmutter. Shane says he acts like a big puss-face. I think he really means sour-puss face.'

'I'm sure he does.'

RJ smiled, then leaned forward, hugged his mother. 'It's okay to be afraid sometimes Mumum. Sometimes, I think, if the cops aren't scared of things, they forget about why it's important to get the bad guys.'

'I think you're right. Hey, there's the rest of the crew,' she added when Jojo and Castle appeared out of his office, Jojo tugging her father's hand like the little tugboat for the _Titanic_. 'Where did you two scamper off to?'

'We puh-layin' Joo-lee Bugs, ah-cause Ah-Shay nee' Mumum-time,' Jojo said importantly. 'An' Daddy say we gonna call Alessis an' Shane fo' a fam-ah-lee suppah!'

'I figured you could use all your babies here,' Castle told her and Beckett nodded, moved over to kiss him.

'I love you, Richard. I love you so much,' she murmured against his lips, and to her surprise there were no grossed-out noises from her two youngest children. 'What, no comments?'

'Not today Mumum,' RJ told her sweetly, and took his little sister by the hand. 'Come on, Jojo, we've got science dinner to make.'

'What science suppah, Ah-Shay? What tha'?'

As RJ explained it to his little sister, Castle wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her back. 'Wanna get a little wet and wild later?'

'As promised on the phone at lunch, I owe you some good sex tonight.'


	14. Two Very Different Dinners

'Ah-shay, cay-fo! A 'tove way hot! No wan; you goin' oushie! It way hot!'

'That's right Jojo, it is. Stand back honey.'

'I no' honey, I bumba-bee!'

But Jojo complied and stepped back from the stove where RJ was standing on his stepping-stool to stir the pot of spaghetti sauce his father had put him in charge of. He dipped in his little tasting spoon, tried a mouthful and nodded. 'Needs more oregano,' he decided, cutely mispronouncing it _oh-re-GAH-no_ instead of _oh-REG-ah-no_.

'Ah-Shay, what that?' Jojo pointed to his tin of ground oregano.

'It's oregano, Jojo. Here have a sniff.'

Jojo snuffled at it and grinned. 'It 'mell like pizza, Ah-Shay.'

'It's what makes pizza sauce taste good and Italian-y,' he replied, and looked at Castle who stood beside him at the stove, browning ground beef. 'Right Dad?'

'Exactly right. Jojo, why don't you go tell Mumum we're going to be ready to set the table soon?'

'O-kay! I do tha'!'

Jojo toddled into the living room where her mumum was lying on her back on the couch, her eyes closed and her earphones in to listen to some music. It was rare that Beckett did this unless she was really tired from trying to find the bad guys so Jojo moved like a little auburn-haired ghost, and tugged out one earbud, planted a kiss on her mother's forehead.

'Mumum,' she said softly, and was met with a little groan so she tried again. 'Mumum, a'mon, it time fo' suppah. Alessis an' Shane be here soon.'

'Five more minutes, okay?' Beckett groaned and little Jojo decided to prove she was her mother's daughter and rolled up her pint-sized sleeves - she tapped her fingertips against Beckett's cheek, then squished her face until Beckett's lips pursed up like a goldfish.

'No, no mo' mins Mumum. You gonna miss 'ghetti an' mea' sauce. An' sheesy buh-read too. Big meanie Ah-Shay gonna eaddit all, Daddy an' Shane too.'

Beckett squinted her eye open, saw a small version of herself in Jojo standing in front of her. She had on her 'I'm in charge of this show' face, one Beckett had caught in the reflection of the one-way glass when she was in Interview. No wonder the criminals shook in their boots, as Jojo was fond of saying. 'Well, we can't let that happen, can we?'

'No way, Mumum. 'Mon, Daddy say we settin-a tay-bill.'

'Hold that thought,' Beckett told her as there was a knock on the door; she answered it to find Alexis and Shane on the other side, Shane with a bottle of wine in his hands and Alexis with a baker's box from Love on a Bun. 'Hey guys, come on in.'

'We figured since you invited us last minute for dinner, we could all use some of this.' Alexis lifted the lid and Beckett caught the tantalizing smell of freshly-made tiramisu. She let out a long, breathy sigh and shuddered.

'Oh yeah, Lex, that is definitely the stuff.'

'So what's up with the impromptu party?' Shane asked, hoping to God his communicator didn't go off since he was only on call until six. Less than an hour to go.

'Mumum nee' fam-ah-lee a'nigh', ah-cause she sad fo' the tee-sher,' Jojo said, coming up beside her mother and wrapping her hand around two of Beckett's fingers. 'Some-one mean-a him an' he in heaven now. You helpin' Mumum, Shane?'

'Yeah, I'm helping your mumum on this one, bumblebee,' Shane told her gently, and he began to fit the pieces together. 'RJ's school is a good school and Calliope Thrace is known as much for is problems as it is anything else.

'I know, but when you and Alexis have babies, you'll understand a little better,' Beckett replied, then looked at Jojo. 'We need to get our guests something to drink.'

'They no' guess, they Alessis an' Shane!' Jojo scoffed, but lead the way to the kitchen. 'You ter-see, Alessis an' Shane? You wanna juicy or guh-rown up tuff?'

'Juice is fine for right now, Jojo,' Alexis laughed, 'and we'll save the grown-up stuff for dessert.'

'We gonna have icy cuh-ream?'

'And tiramisu.'

'What tee-mee-soo?'

As Alexis tried to explain the dessert to her little sister, Castle wandered over to his wife and handed her a little glass of wine he'd already poured for her. 'Time to let it go for the day, Detective,' he murmured in her ear.

'I know. I'm getting there.'

'Good.'

* * *

Several blocks south-west in Waverly Place, an equally cozy and much more x-rated dinner was taking place - Adam and Lindsay were getting themselves prepared for spending a portion of their honeymoon on a nude beach by having naked dinner in their living room, picnic style. It was also a little celebration too - Lindsay was officially off for a month to finish getting ready for the wedding, so she'd picked up some of their favourite foods from Green Traders. They dined like royalty on chilled shrimp with Korean barbecue sauce, smoked crab salad, crispy chickpeas, bacon-wrapped scallops and endive filled with a cheesy-garlic savoury mousse. For dessert there would be fresh exotic fruit and whipped cream, a treat they knew would probably be waiting awhile to be eaten.

'So, what do you think?' Lindsay said. 'Is naked picnic going to feel this much fun when we're at Eagle Bay?'

'Oh yeah.' Adam scooped up another fork full of crab salad and wondered if Lindsay would laugh at him if he put a napkin over his junk to avoid any nasty spills. He eyed up her body, loving how she was completely comfortable with him like this. 'You know, I was thinking...'

'Oh, shocker.'

'Funny. I was thinking, you'd look really sexy with a little belly jewel or dangle or something.'

'Like a piercing?'

The idea of it had a naughty little thrill rippling through Lindsay's core. When she'd been growing up, the belly-button piercing fad had become all the rage and all the cool girls, even the good girls who wanted a little edge to their sugar, had gotten them done. Lindsay had never understood the appeal and she'd been called a churchy prude for it. Oh, they could see her now, she thought with an amused little grin, and they probably did if they bought _Vanity Fair_.

'Not like a piercing, Linds,' Adam told her with a wink. 'A belly ring, like Kate and Jenny and Andrea have.'

'Sloan had one too, but she had to take it out when she was pregnant with Nate and she never got it done again. You think so?'

'Yeah. I'll hold your hand too, if you want,' he added, knowing her slight phobia of needles being done on her body.

'Tell you what. You get this-' she combed her fingers through his hair '-done in cornrows with beads while we're in the Caribbean and I will get my belly pierced.'

'That seems slightly lopsided.'

'Not really. The pictures alone will be worth it.' Lindsay grinned. 'Besides, if I don't like the belly ring, I can take it out. Not like it's a tattoo and it's with you for life.'

'No ink,' Adam said firmly. 'We made a pact on that one.'

'Yes, I know we did.' Lindsay bit into her endive leaf, savouring the taste of the garlic-cheese mousse and frowned a little. 'You don't think I'm too heavy for it, do you?'

'Not at all. You and Andrea are about the same size and she rocks that look. It's not about size, it's about confidence and comfort.'

Put like that, Lindsay had to agree with him. She had been wanting to shake up her look and had been thinking of a hair-cut or colour, maybe even a nose stud or belly piercing herself. Her almost-husband giving her the added boost to her ego made her feel good all over. 'You promise you'll hold my hand?'

'The whole time.'

'And if I cry?'

'I'll be there with tissues.'

'That's my man.' Lindsay slowly licked her fingers. 'What's for dessert?'

'For me, you. For you, me. Who gets to go first?' Adam asked her with a grin, then groaned when he heard his phone go off. 'Hold that thought, baby.'

He picked up his cell, answered it as brusquely as possible. 'Brennan.'

'Detective Brennan, it's Ashley Archer. I need to talk to you and Detective Beckett right away.'


	15. Little Girl, Young Woman

Beckett supposed there were worse ways to have her night interrupted but as she and the family had barely cleared away the pasta dishes and contemplated dessert in the distant future, she supposed it was a good time to get interrupted. Though the downside of that, she realized, was that it meant her one-on-one dessert with her husband would have to wait.

But Ashley had sounded desperate and begged Beckett and Adam to meet her at the Starbucks around the corner from her home. She'd told her parents she was going to meet Sarah; when Beckett met Adam outside the specified location both saw the two girls sitting together in a window seat of the coffee shop.

'What do you suppose would have rattled Ashley enough that she'd call us like this?' Adam wondered aloud, and Beckett shook her head.

'Only one way to find out.'

Beckett opened the door, held it for Adam and placed her order for a mint-chip frappuccino for herself and a strawberry-creme for Adam before joining the young women at their table.

'Detective, thank you for coming.' Ashley stirred what Beckett sniffed out as a hot chocolate while Sarah held her hand in the supportive way all women seemed to be born with. 'Both of you. I...I found something at home I think might be important to your case.'

'Okay.'

Ashley hesitated, faltered a little but Sarah gave her friend's hand a squeeze. 'It's okay, Ash, they'll understand.'

'Right. I...you remember I told you my parents have been fighting a lot right?'

'Yes, you said they're more interesting in keeping up personal appearances than helping the police solve your professor's murder,' Adam prompted her.

'Well, they were fighting even louder this afternoon, after you guys left and my dad stormed out, and my mother was crying in the bathroom before she took off too, like I wasn't even there. I went into the bathroom I knew she'd been using and I found this in the trash.'

Ashley reached into a plastic shopping bag and produced the box for a home-pregnancy test and the capped wand that went with it. I read over the instructions and it's pretty damn clear my mother's pregnant.'

'How does that fit in with our investigation, Ashley?' Beckett asked her.

'The digital read out says she's about seven weeks pregnant so I backtracked on the calendar and realized that would have been in the middle of July, when my father was conveniently gone to Switzerland on business for two whole weeks. The same two weeks I was spending most of my afternoons studying for my AP test or volunteering and my mother conveniently had plenty of time to be banging her mystery man.'

'So what do you want us to do with this?'

Now the young woman's eyes filled up and two fat drops rolled down her cheeks. 'I...you said this afternoon if I should remember anything about the afternoon I heard my mother and her lover?'

'Of course, anything you can remember.'

'Shoes. I remember the shoes in the hallway, and...' Ashley dissolved into sobs now, putting her forehead on her folded hands on the table. 'They belonged to Professor Hill.'

'You're sure of that?' Beckett asked her. 'Enough that you'd say it in front of a jury and risk the defense tearing it to pieces?'

'Yes I am.' Ashley lifted her head and sniffled heroically. 'I kept trying to think about how the hell something as simple as overhearing your parent have sex could be so damaging, and it wasn't until I was looking for a pair of my shoes and saw my father's that it came back to me.'

'Can you describe them for me?'

'Black Italian loafers, pound-imprints, no fringe or tassels but they had the unique silver disc on them with the initials WH scripted on them. I remember it because I was thinking how smell and awful my dad's shoes are, why doesn't he ever upgrade his fashion like Professor Hill once in a while.'

'Adam,' Beckett said quietly and Adam stepped away to check with CSU if such shoes had been found at Hill's apartment. When he was out of range she leaned across the table and looked Ashley directly in the eye. 'Does your mother or father know that you know she was sleeping with Professor Hill?'

'Dad still doesn't know about the affair and I bet my mother will try and convince him this baby is his up until he sees its cute black face coming out of her very white vagina.' Ashley sniffled again, and Sarah passed her some napkins. 'My mom was pretty rattled by what you said this afternoon to her, about secrets with the victim but she keeps trying to act like something isn't terribly wrong. I...should I not have told you this?'

'No, quite the opposite. This gives us more reason to look at your mother as a suspect.' As if to prove her point, Beckett dialed Lanie at the morgue - she knew her friend was working nights and would give her any information she could. 'Lanie, it's me.'

'Hey girl! Weren't you supposed to be having some kind of family night tonight?' Lanie asked.

'Stuff on the Hill case came up. Listen who is working DNA and hematology on the Hill case?'

'Micah Sanderson, same as always. Why, what's up?'

'You still have the body?'

'Yeah, it's not going to be released for at least three days according to the letter of the law.'

'Good. Make a note and run it to see if there were any signs the victim had sexual intercourse within the twenty-four hours preceding his death. I've also got some evidence I want to bring by for Micah on the case as well.'

'Sure thing, girl. He's on nights tonight anyways, so you might be able to catch him if you swing by within the hour.'

'Thanks.' Beckett hung up her phone and took both the box and the pee-stick. 'Ashley, I need to take these into evidence, and I need to ask you one more very important question.'

'Okay.'

'When does your mother take her spare?'

'She takes it first thing in the morning so she can check on equipment in the gymansium and the dojo, and...oh no, Detective, no. This is my mom we're talking about!'

'I will need to speak to your mother now, in an official capacity,' Beckett told her, as gently as she could, 'and in the meantime, I would reccommend staying with a friend for a few days until this matter is resolved. Someone you trust.'

'Oh man.' Ashley's eyes went even more red as her tears started up again; beside her Sarah continued to flex her palm against her friend's.

'She'll stay with me Detective,' Sarah said with the kind of quiet authority both Adam and Beckett expected out of someone far more wordly than a sixteen year old girl. They watched her point a figner at Ashley when she opened her mouth to presumably protest. 'No arguments. We'll go together to you place, put together your kit and then you'll stay tonight with me, maybe even tomorrow. You know my parents won't mind.'

'Alright.'

'Detectives was there anything you need more?' Sarah asked, and Adam shook his head.

'No that should do it. We have things to take care of on our end before we can ask more questions,' he told her, and Ashley drained her hot chocolate, dabbed at her mouth with her paper napkin.

'Okay. What...Do you know if we get to go back to school soon?'

'No, we'll be talking to the deputy headmistress and the headmaster before any decisions are made.'

Ashley nodded qu9ietly, then gave a small laugh. 'You know, the last little while I've been using school to escape stress. It's routine and structure, you know? Now school is the stress.'

Beckett nodded, thinking of how after her mother's death and she'd gotten her act together after her near-miss with a pregnancy scare that she'd thrown herself back into her studies and become a model pupil once more. Much the same way her family and her job were her constant, so many kids never realized how school was their constant until the routine was disrupted. She pointed at the items Ashley had put on the table and looked at Adam.

'Still think the kid's responsible?'

'I never said he was, I just think he's involved somehow.'

'Fair enough. Go to my car, get a baggie so we can take this to Micah at the morgue.'


	16. Time to Unwind

Lindsay sipped her tea, stared at the seating plan, if you could really call it that. Since the wedding was going to be on the beach, and the meal catered by a local resort they'd opted to go with a very relaxed casual feel and simply set out tables for the wedding party, the parents and the guests to mingle about. Lindsay had seen the hell Alexis had gone through trying to plan a formal sit-down seating chart and it had been hellacious at the best of times.

She sighed, looked at her watch. It had been no fair at all for her almost-hubby to be called away when they'd been having naked dinner but there would be plenty of time for that later. And besides, there was also something to be said for having put her pj's back on so her very hot almost-hubby could get her out of them.

The locks tumbled in the door and she saw Adam come back into their apartment. Normally she would have smiled but he looked so miserable, she just got up and went to give him a hug.

'I take it the news wasn't so good for the case?'

'No, it's great for the case, just depressing to hear as an almost-married man, that's all.' Adam sighed, peeled off his light jacket and flopped onto the couch; he still held his fiancee's hand and rubbed his thumb over her smooth, olive skin. 'Promise me when we're parents, we're open and honest with our children about sex and making love and fucking, and the difference between all three.'

'Okay.' Lindsay gave him a sideways look. 'What's brought this on?'

Adam told her the civilian Reader's Digest version of what Ashley had told him and Beckett, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. 'I know all kids probably bust their parents up at one point or another, but I never want them to be afraid to talk to us about things like that.'

'No, they won't be. We'll take a page out of Meredeth and Javi's book, treat learning about sex and body parts as part of natural biology. I was raised to believe that because I'd offended God in some way I had very painful menstrual cramps and it was my penance as a woman to take it and put up with it.' Lindsay shook her head. 'What if we have three girls? I don't want them thinking like that. It's cruel and unnecessary.'

Adam stroked her cheek, sighed tiredly. 'Lindsay, I just want to let it go for the day.'

'Okay.'

Lindsay got to her feet, tugged her fiance with her. 'Come on, big guy.'

She led him into their room, and when she nudged him so he sat on the bed, she gently kissed his lips before spinning away and putting on her iPod stereo and selecting one of her favourite slow jams - The Way I Feel by Asa. She pulled out their toy-box and found the sage-and-citrus massage oil. She set the bottles on her bedside table, then tugged Adam to his feet once more. Her hands fluttered over his broad chest, slipping down to his stomach where she untucked his shirt.

'You're wearing too many clothes, Detective Brennan,' she murmured, nipping at his lower lip. 'I think I know how to fix that.'

'Oh yeah?'

'Mm-hmm.'

Lindsay's hands went up his chest once more and began to flip open the buttons of his shirt, savouring the little movements that exposed more and more of his beautiful body. Her mouth found his once more and she lifted her arms gracefully as a dancer when his own hands took the hem of her top and pulled it up her body. She hadn't bothered with a bra and Adam made no attempt to hide his appreciation for her naked breasts. He cupped one in his palm, squeezed gently. Her shiver made him smile with cat-like satisfaction, his body responding to hers. His eyes sank shut in pure pleasure when he felt her hands graze against him and drag his zipper downward, shoving pants and boxers to the floor.

Both naked once more now, Lindsay took Adam's arms and wrapped them around her shoulders as she clung tight around his body. 'Feel better now?' she asked him.

'Mm-hmm,' he murmured. 'Much better.'

'Hold onto that thought.'

Lindsay tipped her head back and looked at him with such love Adam wanted to weep. What he'd done to deserve this woman, so beautiful and brave, he had no idea but he was going to spend the rest of his life figuring it out with her. He moved them so they were tumbling to the bed and when Lindsay's hips bumped against his and he felt the beginning of her arousal between her thighs, Adam groaned in pleasured frustration.

'Such a tease, Doctor.'

'Flip onto your belly. Doctor's orders.'

Lindsay took a long moment to admired Adam's body, tough and disciplined to be a top-cop, but it had it's soft spots too; one she was especially fond of was right there, on the backs of his shoulders. She loved to hold onto him there, whether it was in comfort or passion, so it was where she decided to start with the massage oil. She grinned gleefully at his low, guttural moan of joy and actually saw his hands fist in the sheets until his knuckles went white.

'That feel good, baby,' she murmured, bending low so her lips grazed his earlobe.

'Fuck, yes. God, you're good at that Lindsay.' Adam wanted to turn over and take her then and there...in a few minutes, he decided as he closed his eyes. 'Feels so good, my love...so...so...good.'

Lindsay knew she'd come a long way and was truly in love with this man by exactly what happened next - rather than taking her and ravishing her as she knew her man wanted to do, Lindsay heard him start to snore, his muscles relaxing with sleep. She nudged him to his side, tugged the sheets up so that he was covered to the waist. She cuddled herself in close to him so she could see his face and kissed him sweetly before dropping off herself.

* * *

The next morning, Adam awoke with Lindsay in his arms, naked and soft and angelic as his cellphone went off. He twisted, reached for his phone while still keeping one hand on Lindsay's back. 'Brennan,' he mumbled, still only half-awake.

'It's Beckett. Get up, we've got a very eager ME on our hands wanting to meet with us before we go play nice with the other kids at school.'

'You driving?'

'Yes, and I've also got the snacks too. RJ and his sous-chefs were baking last night while we went to see Ashley, and Rick made us breakfast burritos too.'

'Sick. I'll see you in twenty.'

Lindsay lifted her head from the pillow as she felt the sudden lack of warmth when Adam got out of bed for the shower. 'Adam, baby, you need breakfast?' she asked blurriness in every syllable. 'You need some eggs or toast?'

'No, it's okay, my sweet sweet strawberry. Beckett's got burritos and pastries.'

'Okay. Lindsay shoved herself to her elbows and smiled at him. 'Take care of my cop, my love.'

Adam grinned, leaned down to kiss her. 'You know I will.'

Once dressed and ready to go, he was walking out of the apartment building door just as Beckett's ride glided to the curb. 'Food first,' he told her and she tossed him a homemade breakfast burrito in a Ziploc bag. He took a bite and felt the delicious eggs and cheese and spices hit his tongue. 'Okay, I'm human now, what's going on?'

'Shane called me, he just got the results from Micah's work on the evidence we brought in, and he sounds like he might split into twins if he doesn't share it soon.'

'That was quick work.'

'Apparently when we brought it in, Micah flagged it as priority so we'd have it for our meeting with the rest of the staff at the school this morning.'

'What time are we going to meet them?' Adam asked, munching more of his burrito.

'Staff meeting is at nine, Anna Leung has asked us to sit in.'

'Sweet.'

Beckett stopped the car at the red light on Seventh Avenue. 'So, you excited for the weekend?'

'Oh, yeah, it's going to be a great time. Just promise me one thing on your part for Lindsay.'

'What is it?'

'Don't let her take part if it's amateur's night at the strip club I know you're dragging her too.'


	17. All Before Eight AM

The two detectives rolled into the morgue and weren't sure what to find more disturbing - the half-opened body on Shane's table or the fact he was actually humming to himself while he pulled out the man's stomach for further examination.

'Morning sex,' Adam muttered, a little jealous since he'd pussed out on Lindsay and fallen asleep before they coudl do anything worthwhile in bed the night before.

'That's my little girl you're inadvertantly talking about,' Beckett teased him back; she was really relishing being Mumum to him on this particular case. Probably because he was so damn nervous and excited for the wedding. 'But right now I'd have to agree.'

'Morning sex yes,' Shane told them as they stepped closer, 'but not for me. Alexis was sleeping like an angel when I rolled in here an hour ago.'

The doctor removed his hands from the chest cavity and as he tugged down his scrubs mask, Beckett could see he had a mile-wide grin on his face. 'Shane, you and Alexis have news or something?'

'No, no,' he replied, 'I just have a very bad case of the mother-damns right now. Kommen sie hier, bitte.'

'Wow, must be big if a Jew is bustin' out his German,' Adam teased him as they followed Shane to his work bench; he disposed of his gloves before picking up a file and handing it to them. 'Where do you wanna start the mother-damn, or the two syllable day-um?'

'Whatever is the most jaw dropping save it for last.' As Beckett could sense Shane had put someting into his presentation of this information, she gave him a little latitude.

He held up the report first. 'Your vic definitely had sex with your female teacher with the easily-dropped panties. The female contribution to the genital area belonged to Carolina Beverly Witt, currently employed by Calliope Thrace.'

'Why is Carolina's DNA on file?'

'It's standard for teachers, so they can cross-reference it against the National Database of Registered Sex Offenders to make sure there's no threat to the minors they work with. They wanna make sure that if you fucked with the wrong rhino in Kentucky, you didn't come to New York to escape it.'

There's all kinds of predators, Beckett thought, but Shane was already barreling on.

'The evidence suggests they had sex within the hour, ninety minutes tops of his death.'

'But that means...' Adam did the calculation. 'Oh, mother damn! That's just nasty! They did it at the school?'

'Guess that gives hot for teacher a new meaning,' Beckett said dryly.

'And that the least icky of our pirate ships today,' Shane continued. He reached over on the paper outbox of his bench and reached for the pregnancy test box in the plastic evidence bag. 'Ran the prints and the DNA from said prints on the box. Two pops in the system. Carolina Witt and another male contribution from one Farley McBride.'

'McBride, why does that name sound familiar?'

'We talked to his younger brother Dexter,' Adam replied, recalling the information on the boy. 'He was one of the kids rejected from Hill's AP junior class.'

'Right, right.' Beckett looked at Shane. 'He's got a record?'

'Part of the Lost and Found initiative, where children would register their DNA with the cops so that in the event they were abducted their prints and blood would be on file.'

'Okay. So how does he fit?'

'Micah being the intrigued and thorough sort ran the McBride name and the serial number of the preggo-test, and guess what? No-one by the name of Farley McBride works at the store where this test was bought.'

'Which means that he was with Carolina when she bought it, or when she took the test, or both.'

'But wait, there's more, and this is where you will really plotz.' Shane pulled out another sheet. 'We're being used as guinea pigs by Rockefeller for this awesome software they want to use in hospital, where we can test a mother-to-be's blood, run the hormone patterns and get basic match comparisons if the male contributor is also on file as well.'

'You can do that? Seriously?' Adam goggled.

'Welcome to the twenty-first century of medical innovations. You might not be able to use it in court, but if you can use it now to investigate you'll be able to build from that. Plus you've got the prints.'

'I'm not seeing the Robin-Sparkles levels of epic I was promised, Scheine,' Beckett told him, using his actual name.

'Let me get there, Detective.' Shane wasn't about to let his mother-in-law's surliness get him down because he knew he had the upper-hand. 'The preggo stick had a little bit of blood on it, about half-a-dime size which is more than enough for a hematologist like Micah to work with. He ran it through the software and got the pattern, ran it through the police database and wouldn't you know?'

He tapped his finger against Farley McBride's name. 'Your boy's a baby-daddy for his teacher.'

'Well fuck me.'

'Five bucks says that's what Carolina said to Farley,' Adam muttered quietly enough to earn nothing more than a reproachful look from his senior detective.

'Oh, but it gets better still.' Shane was practically glowing with schadenfreude now, and he flipped another page for them. 'One of the other little perks of this software is we're also able to date the age of the pregnancy with in a week. She got pregnant the week of June nineteenth to the twenty-sixth. Have a look at Farley's info there.'

'Farley Merrick McBride born July twenty-fourth, two-thousand...' Beckett trailed off as she did the calculations and felt her jaw drop. 'Oh...oh fuck me senseless on a Sunday.'

'He was a minor,' Adam breathed. 'He was a minor when they had sex and he was still in school.'

'This is beyond Robin Sparkles epic, this is like Disneyland on Prozac for our investigation. We now have motive of a very tangible sort.'

Beckett snapped the folder closed and grinned toothily at Shane. 'If it weren't the height of weirdness, I'd actually kiss you right now.'

'Save it for my father-in-law, Kate,' he teased her, 'and I'll take it home to Alexis later.'

'Come on, Adam,' Beckett said, the light of deliciously anticipated battle in her eyes. 'We've got a private school faculty meeting to blow up.'

* * *

'Why are you so happy?'

'What's that?'

Beckett parked the car outside Calliope Thrace, looked over at Adam who looked sincerely pained. 'We've got a viable lead, a woman who approaches rapper's delight levels of sluttiness and you are confused why I'm happy?'

'No, but I've worked with you a while and...okay, I gotta ask it, Beckett, are you this happy because you have a chance to prove me wrong?'

'No, Adam.' Now Beckett's tone was serious. 'I'm this joyful because we have hard evidence to put a predator behind bars. How would you feel if you had someone you trusted, someone in an authority position like a teacher is abusing the trust of the young andvulnerable and has no respect for professional boundaries?'

'Okay, but you get me, right? I never like Nicky Tomasi from the start and if I hadn't had such strong feelings about him, would you be this gleeful?'

'Yes, I would. Like I said, people in positions of authority, especially to children, deserve to be tarred and feathered in my book but the New York Police Department frowns on feathers because it clogs up the air shafts for the subway.'

It made Adam laugh and he was glad for the levity as they climbed the steps, headed for the main office. They found Anna Leung by a photocopier looking just as white and numb as she had the day before.

'Professor Leung?' Beckett had learned this was her title outside of the office and addressed her with the same respect she expected back.

'Oh, Detectives,' she said on a little sigh. 'I wasn't expecting you so early. I take it you must have news?'

'Yes. We need to speak to Carolina Witt and we need you as well.'

'I take it she's in trouble, she was involved in Wayne's death? She told me yesterday afternoon, confessed about their...involvement, and I was absolutely blown away. No-one here had, or has, any clue about it.'

Beckett swallowed tightly. 'Then I'll also suggest you ask your teacher's union rep to be present as well.'


	18. Rotten Apple

They used the opulent staff room on the main floor; with Beckett choosing the end of the table farthest away from the door - they'd chosen it to give them a little privacy in case someone was walking past and their ears got a little too big.

'Anna is in for a rough time with this,' he said to Beckett.

'Yeah, it's going to damage her rep as an administrator one hundred percent.'

'You think so?'

Beckett looked away from the window, where she'd been watching the traffic come and go, saw teachers coming in by the south end of the building. How many of them were about to have their world shattered because of the screw-up of someone they thought was a trusted colleague. It reminded her of the Raglan case, revisiting the ghosts of her own past and discovering with no little devastation that the man they'd been gunning for the entire time was the same man they thought had their backs to protect them against the other dirty cops they'd uncovered.

She shook her head. Therapy, lots of both the clinical and chocolate kind, had helped her find closure with that moment and she knew she'd be able to tell the others with absolute certainty talking about it would help.

Beckett steeled her senses when the door opened and Carolina Witt came in with Anna Leung. For a moment, Beckett was struck by how much she resembled Evil Meredith - both had the classic oval face with green eyes and dark red hair, and perhaps fittingly enough they were both users looking for means to their own ends. She wasn't surprised when she saw the light of righteous indignation in the woman's eyes - she'd seen the same look on Evil Meredith's face when Alexis had thrown her out of her wedding rehearsal dinner.

What would the woman's face look like in several minutes time when Beckett and Adam dropped the bombshell? More importantly, what would Anna's look like?

'Miss Witt, thank you for meeting with us,' Beckett told her with all professional politeness. 'Please, have a seat.'

'I'm not sure exactly why I'm here, I thought you were going to be addressing the faculty entirely at our staff meeting,' Carolina replied smoothly, sitting down as she pressed her fingertips lightly to her lips.

'Are you not feeling well?' Adam asked, complete innocence.

'Morning sickness. I just found out I'm pregnant.'

'Congratulations.'

'Well, it was just a home test, took it before my husband got in from work last night. We're going to see the doctor later today.'

'I hope the stress of this situation isn't going to be too much for you.'

'Death is always stressful,' Carolina sighed dramatically. 'I'm just worried about my students.'

Not her daughter, Beckett noted; Carolina was very careful to make that distinction. She pulled out the file with Micah and Shane's early morning discoveries. 'Miss Witt, before we go any further, I need to inform you of your rights for your own protection. It's a standard formality.'

'Okay.'

Beckett recited the Miranda warning, then tapped her finger on the file folder. 'Miss Witt, our evidence teams have come across some very important information from a highly credible source close to you that bears investigating. I need to ask you for your whereabouts yesterday morning from seven forty-five until nine-forty-five.'

'I- my home-room is my prep period, I was in the gymnasium getting equipment ready for my third period class. My third period class is second-year health. We've just started a unit on contraception and its different cultural and social implications from around the world.'

_Oh, Rick, you'd love that one,_ Beckett thought with a little irony. 'Did you see anyone?'

'I...I can't remember. I haven't slept well this past week.'

'I'm sure you haven't.' Now Beckett dropped the nicey-nice pretense and leaned forward. 'Telling your husband you're having another man's child isn't something that would be easy for a lot of women.'

'What?' Anna actually laughed. 'That's absurd.'

'No it's not.' Beckett shoved over the file folder with the evidence in it. 'What's even more devastating is that our ME was able to work his magic in the lab and tell us that not only is Carolina pregnant, but the timing means that her baby daddy was a student and a minor at the time of the conception.'

Adam knew if real-life had comedic interstitial animations, they would currently have one of Carolina's head blowing to smithereens, just like in _Scanners_. Her face went even paler than normal, and her hands trembled as she took the files from Beckett to examine them.

'This is crazy, how dare you accuse me of something so gross and wrong!'

'But if you have a look there, you'll see our source brought us your pregnancy test-stick and the box it came in, Carolina. We ran multiple tests and have conclusive evidence to support our investigative theory.'

'That's preposterous,' she spluttered. 'How could you possibly know I took a pregnancy test, I was at home yesterday afternoon and the only other person there was...Ashley. That lying little bitch, oh I'll kill her for this!'

'Easy, Miss Witt. You know what stress does to a baby,' Adam cautioned her dryly.

'How could she do this to me?'

'You did this to yourself, Carolina,' Beckett replied calmly, noting that Anna had yet to say anything. She picked up the file, opened it to the comprehensive test results from the morgue and its labs. 'This tells us that you had an affair with your student and you are now pregnant by him, and that you're-'

'Who is it?'

'Excuse me?'

Carolina's lips curved; she straightened in her chair as her brainstorm gave her new energy. 'You don't have anything, otherwise you'd tell me a name.'

'Oh, sorry about that. It's Farley McBride.'

'No.' It was a single, disbelieving protest from Anna, watching as Carolina slumped back in her chair. 'No, this...this can't be.'

'There's no way you can prove it,' Carolina sneered.

'Oh but there is. We have some cool toys on our side, and they can do things like track serial numbers of products, not to mention the awesome old-school trick of pulling fignerprints. After we discounted the employees there is also your fingerprints and Farley's as well.'

'On the box, sure. I bumped into Farley at the drug-store last evening and he handed me the box. Anything else is hearsay.'

'But we also found them on the stick itself. The part you have to open up the box to get at, Carolina. Why would his prints be on that part of the pregnancy test?' When Carolina said nothing, Beckett folded her hands on the desk. 'There is also the matter of how far along you are. Our lab techs were able to determine the hormone levels of your DNA sample and they put the time of conception between June nineteenth and June twenty-sixth. Any specials events going on that you were chaperoning Carolina?'

'The senior prom,' Anna jumped in, her expression frozen. 'The senior prom was June twenty-second. It was hosted at the Tesla Concorde and a group of the seniors had rented out a floor for an after party. Carolina, you volunteered to keep an eye on them and make sure they didn't get too rowdy, you...you said you'd be fine with it, that you'd love your students to see more of you outside the class.'

Anna's voice broke, and she rose, excusing herself to the end of the room where she retrieved tissues. In her absence, Adam leaned forward as well. 'Carolina, do you understand this makes you our number one suspect?'

'That was for murder, not sex.'

'Oh, but see, here's the thing. Our techs ran even more tests and they know you banged Professor Hill within ninety minutes of his time of death. You had a hell of a motive for wanting him dead, and you could use your baby daddy's baby bro to do it, too.'

'What is my motive?'

'Desperation to conceal a crime. You knew that Farley was seventeen when you two hooked up. I'm guessing you've been showing signs of pregnancy before today since you're probably ten weeks in or so, and Hill figured it out. He knew you weren't doing your mister anymore and he'd have been able to deduce the rest. So when he told you about it, you poisoned him.'

'No, I didn't, and I'd like to exercise my right to counsel now.'

'Call them up, they can meet us at the precinct.'


	19. Bloodless Predator

'Vice, Mazzara.'

'Gil, it's Beckett. Got one here you're gonna want to see for yourself.'

'Oh yeah?'

Beckett heard him shift on his end of the phone and she knew he was probably sitting up straight now. Gil always propped his heels on his desk to think on a case that was giving him troubles. 'Is it a cross from one of yours?'

'Yeah, it is, and we've got her cooling her heels in Holding until her counsel gets here. I want you in the room when I talk to her.'

'You're not sending in the hippo?'

'Not this time. Carolina need's a woman's touch. But trust me, you want to see it. Interview Room C, ten minutes.'

'There better be RJ cookies.'

If Gil was bitching about snacks, Beckett knew she had him, and her timing couldn't have been better she realized as her communicator beeped. 'Beckett.'

'Counsel for Carolina Witt is here,' the officer in Holding informed her.

'Perfect have them brought to the Homicide floor, Interview Room C.'

'You got it, sir.'

Beckett sighed and had a look over where Adam and Watkins were still pouring over financial files; they'd been able to sweet-talk Fuqua into a temporary release of Carolina's information since they had evidence of her gross misconduct with a minor student and she left them to it, headed into the Interview room. She wanted to be there before she

When her cellphone went off, she saw the call was from home and she answered it with a warm but brisk, 'Talk fast, Rick

'It Sho-sho, Mumum! I haffa question, way fas'.'

'Okay, bumblebee, make it fast. Mumum has to interview a bad guy soon.'

'O-kay! I buh-ring Bib on-a puh-lane? O' he be in my soo-case?' Jojo sounded concerned for her beloved stuffed caterpillar's well-being. 'He no like bein' 'lone in-a dark. He nee' me sing 'im songs an' say it be o-kay.'

'No, he can come on the plane in your bag, sweetie. That's all?'

'That all! Go cash baddies, Mumum! Love you!'

'Love you too Jojo,' Beckett laughed, then hung up, got her game face on. It wasn't too hard considering how much shit Carolina Witt was in. The woman aghast in her at hte idea she was juggling three lovers with so little compunction about it wanted to point and laugh at the predicament she was in. The cop in her saw a situation ripe with motive to off one of those lovers.

The door opened and Carolina came in with her lawyer, another woman with caramel skin and almond eyes Beckett recognized as top defense attorney Hasina Shiriqui; she wore a suit of discreet charcoal grey and her leather briefcase was monogrammed in silver.

'Counselor,' she greeted her.

'Detective.' Hasina sat down and flipped open her briefcase. 'Let's get started on this matter so we can resolve it quickly. My client is ready to answer all questions I deem appropriate.'

'In a moment.' Beckett looked over and indulged herself a small smile when she saw Gil come in. 'This is Detective Gil Mazzara from Vice. I've asked him to sit in on this matter.'

'I'm not a crackhead,' Carolina pointed out.

'No but he also oversees what you'd call morality crimes. Having an affair with a student who is also a minor would fit that bill.'

'A moment please, Detective.' Hasina leaned over to whisper something to Carolina, and they both nodded. 'As per the request of my client, we are not going to be discussing the matter of her personal indiscretion. We are here to off

'Personal indiscretion,' Gil repeated incredulously. 'The last time I checked, sex with a minor is called statutory rape, not a personal indiscretion.'

'I never forced myself on Farley,' Carolina said with amazing haughtiness; she actually tossed her hair and gave Gil a look. 'It was completely consensual.'

'Did you miss the part where I said 'sex with a minor is statutory rape' ? It doesn't matter if you trussed him up like a Thanksgiving turkey, or if you asked him to eat raspberry jam out of your belly button before he spanked you with a spatula. You took advantage of someone legally still a child in the eyes of the law and that makes you a predator.'

'Not exactly the 'how did you meet daddy' story any kid really wants to hear is it? Not to mention the fact you are both still legally married and the third party named in a divorce case as the reason for the marriage's breakdown,' Beckett said, and she got great satisfaction watching a muscle in Gil's jaw work. If Homicide had seen it all, Vice yawned after seeing it twice and it took a fair bit to surprise the well-seasoned Italian. 'If you'll forgive my language Counselor, your client is, for lack of a better word, fucked.'

'What does any of this have to do with Wayne's death?' Carolina snotted off.

'Oh, that's an easy one and you're forgetting I already mentioned it at the school. Wayne found out that you were banging one of the boys from last year's senior class, threatened to report you so you took care of it.'

'No, I didn't!'

Beckett gave a petulant little shrug she knew would push Carolina over the edge. 'Says the woman juggling three men.'

'Wayne never knew about Farley, he didn't even know I was pregnant or else he wouldn't have gotten me off with a quickie in the equipment room yesterday morning,' Carolina hollered vehemently, then huffed out a breath to compose herself. 'Wayne and I had decided to cool things a little while he was going through his divorce, when things were starting to get ugly. It wasn't going to look good if we were out on the town while his ex was call us very unflattering names.'

'And Farley?'

'Come on, Detective.' Carolina actually winked a little at her. 'You can't tell me there hasn't been a time in your life when you've been bored of your husband and wanted a little fun, right?'

'Bored? Do you even know who Richard Castle is?'

'Should I?'

'That aside,' Beckett continued, 'how did no-one notice that you and Farley had gone off somewhere private?'

'Farley broke up a little pushy-shovy between two girls, got his lip bloodied for it. I took him back to my suite and once I got him cleaned up, we fucked like wild rabbits. Every which way but loose.'

Beckett didn't have to look over to know that Gil's face shared her own sick disgust. They'd both dealt with predators before, but for some reason, this woman really took the cake. 'Which got you into your current plus-one state?'

'I have no idea what I'm going to do about it,' Carolina sighed. 'My husband is fixed, Wayne never knew and it can't be his because the baby will come out white as Fluffer-Nutter.'

'Have you thought about your husband? Or Ashley?'

'I haven't even thought of what I'll tell my husband, but...why would I think about Ashley? It's not her business.'

The sickness in Becket's gut turned to rage, the kind of rage only a true mother could feel. She carried that girl, so scared and yet so brave, in her body for nine months. She brought her into the world and it was her job to protect her, not dismiss her so casually out of turn. Beckett had wanted to hold onto the ace a lot longer than this but she knew she had to step up and give the girl back

'Your daughter knew you were cheating on her father, Carolina, for almost a year. She heard you and Wayne at your place on New Year's Eve,' she told her with barely controlled contempt, 'heard you moaning and writhing around with your lover, begging him to use his tongue on you, and then entering you from behind. You want to know why Ashley brought me the pregnancy test and the box? Because between the two of you, she's the only one who knows what you're doing is completely wrong.'

She rose and stared at Carolina. 'You may be in the clear for murder but from where I'm standing, and where Detective Mazzara is standing, you're not walking out of this precinct unless it's into county lockup.'

'My daughter is a spoiled brat who stamps her feet and asks her daddy to give her everything.'

'Could be worse,' Beckett said with a simple shrug. 'She could be like you.'


	20. Chocolate and ChitChat

'You look like hell.'

Beckett looked up from her spot at the break-room table, saw Adam standing there with a cup of coffee and two packets of Twix-Bits from Vending. Carolina had finally done the smart thing and gone with Gil up to Vice to confess all the details of her affair with Farley McBride, and when she'd gone Beckett had been left with only a hollow satisfaction.

'Twix-Bit?' Adam held out one of the packets.

'Thanks.' Beckett munched, leaned back in her chair. 'Man, it feels like it should be the end of the day and it's not even lunch-time yet.'

'You're telling me. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd honestly rather be calming Lindsay down from a 'what-if' attack than turning over the life of a once-respected teacher.'

'A what if attack?'

'Yeah, like, what if the plane is delayed, what if they didn't get my email about Lanie and seafood, what if the dresses aren't ready on time. Things like that.'

'Wow, you really are a guy days away from the altar.'

'I...' Adam trailed off. 'I can't sleep, or not well at least. I've been lying awake watching Lindsay and all I can think is, how the hell did a loser like me end up with such an amazing woman? Do you know what she is doing too?'

'What?'

'Her, Alexis, Jenny and Andrea put their heads together, and they are even doing little gift bags for some of the kids' stuffed animals.'

'Oh yeah?' Beckett popped another Twix-Bit, munched away.

'Yep, they get miniature bride bears or groom bears and a bag of whatever their favourite chocolate or sweet-treat is.'

'That is so cute.'

'Apparently it was Jojo's idea because she was talking to RJ and was very concerned about someone named Bib being left out. Who or what is a Bib?'

'Bib is her stuffed caterpillar from when she was a baby. We called her the bub instead of baby, and when she was learning to speak, she referred to her caterpillar as her 'bub' only it came out 'bib' and it stuck.'

'That is so cute,' Adam echoed teasingly. 'They've been on a plane before right?'

'Yep, but Jojo's never flown internationally. She's a little concerned, and was even worried Bib didn't have his 'pishal airport book'. A passport,' she clarified, making Adam smile. 'To be three years old again and have that kind of imagination.'

'When I was in kindergarten, I'd been watching cartoons with my babysitter and they were making an airplane on this show, and I was damn determined I was gonna do the same, and I was gonna use a cardboard box, a couple of tin pie plates and the wheels off my mother's living room arm chair.'

Beckett grinned at the idea of five year-old Adam raising holy hell. 'You must have been the kind of kid your parents doled out hazard pay for.'

'No, not really. Just a very hyperactive kid with no siblings and a very big imagination.'

'I can appreciate that. Beckett,' she added when her phone began to ring.

'Hey sexy lady.'

'Hey Rick.' Her smile spread warm and easy. 'How is your day going?'

'Better than yours, I bet. How did the staff meeting go?'

'About as well as you think. What's up?'

'Just thought I'd give you the heads up I've invited Lindsay and Adam for dinner tonight. RJ wants to make them a special dinner before the wedding.'

Beckett starred at Adam sitting across from her and nodded, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly. 'Really, because I'm sitting right across from Adam and he didn't say a word.'

'Lindsay called, asking about wedding stuff and I talked to her. She hadn't talked to him yet.'

'Fair enough. I'll let her surprise him.'

There was a knock on the door and Beckett glanced up to see Watkins there. 'The captain wants an update, sir.'

'Be right there. I gotta run, Rick, tell the kids I love them and RJ can text me what the menu is for dinner.'

'You don't love me?' Castle teased her.

'I'd rather show you that later tonight.'

'Deal.'

Beckett hung up, rose. 'C'mon fearless leader, time to go update the boss lady.'

'What surprise?' Adam replied immediately like a child as he left the break-room with her. 'What surprise?'

'Nothing to worry about right now,' she said blithely; she stopped at Karpowski's office, rapped her knuckles lightly on the frame. It was easier now to call it Karpowski's office instead of thinking of her as having taken over Montgomery's old space. 'Sir we're here to update you?'

'Yes, close the door please, Detective Brennan.'

Adam did so, and Karpowski gave a little sigh, took off her stylish reading glasses. For the first time in...ever, Adam realized, the intrepid captain looked thoroughly exhausted.

'Sir, are you okay,' he asked cautiously.

'No, I'm not. My oldest daughter is a student at Calliope Thrace and she's never lost anyone close to her before. She was a big fan of Wayne Hill, and she could barely get out of bed this morning.' Karpowski rubbed her hand over her mouth. 'Her father and I aren't going to be pushing her to go back to school just yet, not until Monday. Where are you with the investigation?'

'Sir are you asking as a parent or as our captain?' Beckett said quietly.

'Captain first.'

'We've made an arrest on an offshoot of the case,' she began, then stopped. 'Sir, this is a hard line to walk with you, I-'

'Just tell it straight, Beckett.'

'One of the students who had an issue with Wayne Hill last year over the AP algebra and geometry course, her mother is also a member of the faculty and through our investigation we learned that she was having an affair with both our victim and with a student who was a minor when the affair began. That faculty member is also aproximately eleven weeks pregnant with said student's child.'

'Jesus fucking Christ. Who is it?'

'Carolina Witt.'

Beckett and Adam watched as the formidable Karpowski's unflappable expression went murderous. 'This is a joke, right? Tell me it's a joke.'

'We have a pregnancy test that confirms Carolina's got company and the DNA test run by Doctor Shane Weaver and hematologist Micah Sanderson indicates that the father of said progeny is Farley McBride. He was a month away from turning eighteen when the affair began.'

'Thank you that's all,' Karpowski told her detectives and turned her chair away.

'Sir-'

'I need time on my own to process this, Detective, so I don't say something in the heat of the moment I'd regret. Please kindly show yourselves out.'

Beckett and Adam left as quietly as they could, but not before catching the shiort screech that came out of their captain's mouth before she began to dial her desk phone. 'I think we just ruined her day,' she said dryly.

'Ya think? Now what, we gonna go tell Dell Carey and a few other of our little ones they weren't planned babies?'

'Right now we're going to go back through the financial records to make sure there is nothing we missed and then go and goose Shane at the morgue for a toxicology report confirmation.'

'Then will you tell me the surprise my wife's got for me at home tonight? What?' Adam asked as they sat down at Beckett's desk; her face had split into a wide, gooey grin that had no place being in a cop-shop. 'What's with the face?'

'You called Lindsay your wife. That's so cute.'

'I did?'

'Yep. Won't be long now.'

'Will you tell me the surprise?'

'Not a chance.' Beckett shook her head, looked at him with the grin turning slightly edgy now. 'That's the job of the big sister.'

'Oh, which reminds me, big sister. Once we get to the island, you're still going with me next Thursday to the aquarium right?'

'Of course, I wouldn't miss it. I wanna check it out for my kids too.'

'Check what out?'

Adam looked over when he saw Esposito wandering up. 'A surprise for the wedding. I'll tell you, provided you wanna hang here, help us with paperwork.'

'See ya later, Brennan.'


	21. Dinner Time I

'Hello? Anyone home?'

Adam walked through the door of home, dropped his keys into the glass dish shaped like the Gibbs Hill lighthouse. He looked around, sniffed; the air was warm, sweet and scented lightly of lime and verbena - Lindsay's bubblebath.

'Lindsay? My little butterfly shrimp are you home?'

'In here!' was the hollered reply from the bedroom. Adam followed her voice and stopped short when he saw his bride in her underwear, holding a chandelier earring to her stomach. She switched it for holding a cheap silver costume ring there, then back to the chandelier earring once more.

'Whatcha doing, plum sauce?'

'Are you craving Chinese?'

'I had Monsoon's for lunch again today. What are you doing?' he repeated with a laugh as he tugged off his tie, unfastened the buttons of his shirt.

'Trying to decide when I get my belly jewel if I want a hoop or a dingle-dangle decoration.'

'I think they'll be smaller than that, sweetie.'

'It's just for judging what I think I want. I'm leaning towards dingle-dangle, I have horrible visions of the other getting stuck or caught on things,' Lindsay decided, then looked at her almost-hubby. 'I'm a wuss.'

'Why's that?'

'I wanna get it done to surprise you for the wedding, so the first time you saw it would be on our wedding night, but I know if you're not there holding my hand I'll need to be sedated.'

'This from the gal who knows she wants a drug free birthing plan.'

'It's different,' Lindsay tried to explain, 'and it's a girl thing.'

'Well, in the mean-time...' Adam trailed off, crossed to her. Like his almost-wife he was now in just his underwear, and stroked his fingertip up the middle of her back until he hit the clasp of her bra. He unfastened it, nudged the straps of simply faux-satin down her shoulders. 'We are almost naked and doing nothing useful with that.'

'That definitely needs to be corrected.' Lindsay let out a happy little moan of pleasure as his hands came around her belly, drifted up to cup her breasts. 'And that's a great place to start.'

* * *

'You don't think it'll be really obvious we fit in a quick one do you?'

Adam grinned, kissed Lindsay's cheek while they waited for the loft door to be answered. 'You've heard the stories from Mere and Javi about the first night he introduced her to the gang, right?'

'Actually no.'

'No lie, Javi called Castle and said that he and Meredeth were going to be late because they were in bed together, and when they got there, Castle answered the door to the two of them making out.'

'Okay, not so bad then.'

The door opened and Castle was there with Jojo hanging onto his hand. The little girl was wearing a white apron splattered with something green. Behind them, the smells of cumin, tomatoes and roasted corn called to the bride and groom like a siren song.

'Hi buh-ride! Hi gah-roo', 'mon inside! We makin' soo-pah yummy suppah fo' you!'

'Is it Mexican food Jojo?' Adam asked and Jojo flushed in her cheeks.

'Yes Misser Dee-te-tiff Adam, it Messican suppah. We haffin' an-shee-la-las an' tacos an'...an' lossa yummies! 'Mon.' Jojo dropped her father's hand and took Adam's, then looked at Lindsay. 'It okay I hol' hands?'

'Of course darling.'

'Ah-Shay no like it when Tah-rini hol' hands wit' odder boys,' Jojo explained, leading the guests into the kitchen. 'Misser Adam, you wanna juicy or guh-rown up 'tuff?'

'Oh juice is fine, sweetie,' Adam laughed, totally taken with her charm. 'Are you excited for the trip next week?'

'Mm-hmm, but my cassa-pillah Bib, he little, he 'faid. I say, it okay Bib, I here, no be 'faid. Ah-Shay!'

The little girl hollered for her brother and peeked around the island to find him staring through the window of the oven. 'Ah-Shay, where manners? Our buh-ride an' gah-roo' here!'

'I'm watching the food, Jojo,' RJ told her, then looked up at his father with a grin. 'The cheese is getting all bubbly, Daddy.'

'Excellent. Can you and your sister go get your mumum from upstairs, tell her Lindsay and Adam are here and dinner's almost ready?'

'I do it!'

Jojo wrestled off her apron and zipped to the stairs with RJ catchign up to her easily. With the children taken care of, Castle went to the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of green stuff.

'Soft margarita, Adam? Lindsay you want a real one?'

'No, thanks, I can't handle any booze this week. My nerves are way too jazzed and I'm lucky when I can keep down my breakfast.'

Castle gave her a suspicious look. 'You got company for the wedding, mama?'

'Oh God no, I just got over...that,' Lindsay blushed, 'a few days ago. I was so worried it was going to be here too late and ruin the wedding night and honeymoon.'

'Oh, yeah, that would blow.'

'Lissy! Adam! Loo' we fin' Mumum!'

Adam and Lindsay turned to see Jojo coming downstairs with Beckett; the little girl was clasping her mother's wrist and wiggling her arm to show off her capture. 'Where's RJ?'

'Bat'room. It gonna 'tink.'

'Jojo, we've talked about this, bumblebee,' Beckett reminded her daughter.

'I know, Mumum.'

Lindsay's heart melted when she saw Jojo give a little sigh and look at her in sympathy. 'Why boys 'mell, Lissy?'

'I don't know sweetie.'

'I know! It ah-cause boys say fuh-lowers fo' gils.'

'Oh, flowers are for gils?'

'Uh-hmmm.' Jojo's sea-goddess eyes were shining and serious. 'Boys say, ew no wanna 'mell like a gil. Bu' we 'mell good.'

As if to prove her point she dropped her mother's hand and came over to Lindsay, gave her an audible sniff. 'You 'mell like lemonade.'

'That's because my soap and my lotion has limes in it.'

'See? We 'mell nice. 'Mon.'

Jojo crooked her finger at Lindsay and clamber up onto her chair at the kitchen table, where she proceded to grill Lindsay for wedding details while Adam, Beckett and Castle remained in the kitchen.

'How's the case going, Adam?' Castle asked, getting out glasses for the margaritas. 'Kate's been kinda quiet on this one.'

'It's a tough one, not only because of the vic's personal life but because of where it happened too.'

'Any word on when the school is going to open again?'

'Monday. The faculty, the trustees, the parent council all want classes to resume to give the kids a sense of normalcy. The school will be closed on Thursday, though, for the funeral services so the students can all attend.'

Castle nodded, passed Adam a soft margarita. 'What about the other stuff you uncovered? The other teacher?'

'Word is she isn't denying her involvement with the student and fully expects because she's preggo she'll get out of any jail-time.'

'Is that true?'

'I had a little conversation with Ian Link and he said the woman is going to be put on house arrest and have twenty-four hour electronic monitoring until she gives birth plus six months afterwards. After that, the child passes into the care of the legal next of kin until the sentence is finished in a woman's correctional facility or until the child turns eighteen, whichever happens first.'

'Link will go for the maximum penalty for her,' Beckett said softly. 'He has no tolerance for people like Carolina Witt who abuse their authority and prey on those their supposed to protect.'

'He's a lot like Ryan that way,' Adam agreed, then shut his mouth when he saw RJ come down the stairs; he knew Beckett was trying to keep this one away from home as best as she could so her son wouldn't see how shaken the idea of schools being unsafe had made her. 'Hey there's our chef! What's on the menu tonight?'

'I put a little menu at everyone's spot,' he replied with proudly pink cheeks. 'It is being served family style which Daddy said means all the bowls on the table and we help each other with our plates.'

'And are we ready to eat?'

'Ummmm...' RJ trailed off and then grinned when he heard the oven timer. 'Yep! We are! Everyone take a spot!'


	22. Dinner Time II

Dinner, as was standard in a Castle family meal, was delicious and loud. The little lady of the loft insisted on sitting beside Lindsay so she could get as many details about the wedding and what Bermuda was like so she could inform Bib he had nothing to be afraid of. RJ, between bites of enchilada and rice, was debating the merits of video games with Adam and Beckett could only smile laughingly at her husband.

'Nice to see we've arranged such good play-dates for the children.'

'Since they're old enough, maybe we can go out for a drink.'

'No, no goin' 'way,' Jojo said, looking up from the last bites of her dinner. 'We haffin' an-shee-la-las!'

'I'm just teasing Daddy, Jojo,' Beckett reassured her little girl. 'We're all staying here for now.'

'Good.'

'Maybe after dinner, can we play a game all together?' RJ asked. He looked hopefully from his parents to their guests. 'I know you and Mumum have some work to do probably for the case but it would be nice to have a game together.'

'We can have a little game, but when it's time for dessert, it's time for the grownups to visit, okay?' Castle reminded his boy.

'Okay Daddy.'

'It time tidy up?' Jojo asked, and held out her plate for inspection. 'See? All done.'

'Very good Jojo, but you have to wait for the others.'

'Okay. Lissy, you ah-mos' done too?'

'Just about.' Lindsay felt her stomach churn the way it had been all week but she forced down another couple of bites - it just tasted so good, it would totally be worth it if she was throwing up later that night at home. 'What kind of game do you want to play.'

'Go Fish?'

'We can play Go Fish, I think.'

'Whee!'

'Mister Adam,' RJ asked, shoveling in the last of his veggies and rice, 'do they make card game video games?'

'Sure they do, for all ages and all kinds of card games,' Adam replied, reaching for another taco shell; he'd lost count how many this was after four. Unlike Lindsay who would barely eat two spoonfuls of anything when she was nervous, if he was stressed his appetite went through the roof.

'I think I'll have to get Jojo one for her birthday. Then I can show her how to play video games and we'll have lots of fun doing that together.'

'You like playing with your sister?'

RJ nodded. 'Oh yes. I have my friends at school, but Jojo is my tied-for-number-one girl and I like to find things we can do together. When she goes to my school in a year or two, she can see me at recess because I'll be big enough to be a kindergarten helper but right now, we have to play games together when I'm not at school.'

'I hep Ah-Shay wit' home-work,' Jojo said importantly and dabbed her lips with her napkin. 'He say I can col-ah 'tuff if I cay-fo.'

'And you're very good at it,' RJ told her; he reached across the table to feed the birds with her, then looked at his plate. 'Daddy I am finished too, thank you for helping me make dinner.'

'Anytime, big bro.'

'May I take anyone's plate away to the sink, so we don't have dirty dishes around?'

Beckett watched with pride as her little man helped to tidy up and Jojo insisted on helping him. This was exactly what she needed, she realized, ever since getting the call that there was a murder at a school. She hadn't realized how shaken she still was over the whole affair. She knew it had gotten to Adam too which was probably part of the reason he was stuffing himself like a Christmas goose - the guy ate like a garbage disposal when he was freaking out.

Having this night to tune it out and be with family, watching her children and her husband interact with their guests was just the right antidote to the horror she knew they would be dealing with in the morning when they had to keep looking into the students and staff of Calliope Thrace.

'Mumum?' RJ appeared at her elbow. 'Mumum, are you finished with your supper?'

'Oh, no, I'm still working on it, RJ,' she replied, realizing that her drifting meant she still had half her last enchilada on the plate.

'You need to eat your veggies up, you have to stay big and strong to catch the bad guys.'

'Bad guys no' gonna get 'way!' Jojo declared; she returned to her chair beside Lindsay. 'I finish helpin', I gotta 'tay outta way fo' big people now.'

'That's a good plan, Jojo,' Lindsay told her. 'Even when you want to help more, sometimes being little means you might get hurt.'

'Sacky, Lissy. Mumum, when we haffin' dizzer'?'

'Not for a little while, bumblebee.'

'Lissy, wanna come see Bib? Ah-Shay buh-ringin' Omeo on-a puh-lane, but Omeo, he been on puh-lane lossa.' Jojo looked to her mother. 'Mumum, we go, puh-lease?'

'Well-'

'It's okay, Kate.' Lindsay smiled at the little girl. 'I would love to come and see Bib. Who or what is a Bib?'

Lindsay rose and took Jojo with her upstairs and RJ followed them up, which gave Beckett and Adam a chance to discuss the case; though they both knew this was the time to be relaxing away from the job they wouldn't be completely settled until it was off their chests.

'The school re-opens Monday which means tomorrow we need to talk to the rest of the staff that immediately worked with Wayne Hill,' Beckett decided, 'and more, we need CSU to give us their answers on the coffee cup and its contents.'

'Is this case going cold?' Adam asked with a slight sinking in his gut.

'Not a fucking chance, not on my watch. Schools are supposed to be safe and when that is violated it is very hard to get back to normal. Look at Polytechnique in Montreal, Columbine, the Amish school-house killings. All of those hit so deep not just because they are children, but because school is supposed to be a place of togetherness and co-operation and constructive violence.'

'Constructive violence?' Castle repeated.

'Gym class and sports teams and learning to stand up for yourself against bullying and protecting those who can't stand up for themselves,' she explained, stabbing the last few bites of her dinner and chewing on them thoughtfully. 'All of those things are ways to deal with violence in a way that doesn't scar kids for life.'

'I dunno, I was pretty scared by being forced into modern dance and gymanstics in the seventh grade.'

'Castle-'

'I know what you mean, Kate,' he interrupted her, and rose to begin clearing the dishes so the cops could do their thing. 'And part of the many reasons I love you is watching that look in your eyes when you think I'm being a pill.'

'Funny man.'

'Yeah, I'm a box of monkeys.'

Adam listened to them bicker playfully and could only imagine what it would have been like to listen to them wedding plan. He'd heard the stories of how they'd kept their wedding a secret since they didn't want their day to eclipse the unexpected news of Lanie and Dave having their first baby. He thought of how he and Lindsay had their own thing of calling each other by food names as a term of endearment, and if they wanted to point out the other was being a right pain in the ass they'd pick a food they knew the ass-hat didn't like.

He wondered what they'd use on each other when they started a family and Lindsay's hormones were going bananas, no pun intended.

'Beckett,' he said as a thought occurred to him, 'women get pregnancy brain right?'

'Yeah,' she replied at length, 'but it's more common in the last trimester from what I've read.'

'Damn, I was thinking maybe Carolina did it without realizing what she'd done.'

'Doesn't quiet work that way,' Beckett laughed. 'But a good idea nonetheless. I still think you've got reason to be suspicious of Nicky Tee but sadly, we need more than a hunch, we need something hard to tie him to it.'

'Sarah's reaction wasn't enough?'

'It's a place to start, we need a lot more if we want to pin a cold-blooded murder on him.'


	23. The Best Medicine

_Hey Crumbsians! I know I haven't been updating consistently this past week but this have been crazy busy here and I am making up for it now so yea! Also, this one is super-hot! You might want a popsicle or a cold shower afterward!_

* * *

'Kate, you're still not relaxing.'

Beckett turned around from her bureau where she was picking out pyjamas and starred at Castle He was in his boxers and in bed proofing his latest chapter. It was one of his most endearing anomalies - as gadget-y a guy as he was, before he sent in his chapters to his publisher for editing, he always edited them by hand himself and then put the changes through his digital copy once more.

'No and I'm so sorry,' she sighed, dragging on an ancient NYPD Fun-Run t-shirt. 'I tried to get it out of my head tonight but I couldn't and-'

'Kate, Kate.' Castle set aside his papers and red needle-point Sharpie, moved to the end of the bed to take her hands. 'I get it. I've been with you for how long, I get that even though not every case you have makes the papers that some of them affect you more than others. That's part of what makes you so good.'

'I keep thinking about all our kids. TJ, Dell, Carey, Mallory, RJ and Jojo, the Esposito quartet, Finn and Violet, all of them.' Beckett closed her eyes and wasn't surprised when she felt the sting of tears forming. 'All of those beautiful sweet little lives, how innocent they all are still. Some more than others, but they should be safe at schools.'

'Kate, you know it's not always like this-'

'Look at what happened to Rosie.'

That had Castle quieting. Despite the fact those rat bastard bullies were all in juvenile hall until they were eighteen with no chance of parole, the reminder of it in the simple fact that Rosie had had to switch schools; every day they were reminded of the fact that children weren't always safe at school with such a simple ordinary thing.

'Kate.' He said her name again. 'It's not the same. Neither case is the same. Those shitheads did what they did to Rosie because they are a bunch of racist little dirtbags. Whoever did this to Wayne Hill is a sociopath, you know that too.'

'I know, but...but I wanna protect my children. Even Alexis, who is almost thirty years old. She works with some very messed-up teenagers. The kind who have been in trouble worse than this.'

'I know that too.'

Beckett sank onto the bed, sighed. She nibbled her thumbnail and closed her eyes as she felt her husbands strong hands on her back; they rubbed in slow soothing circles. 'I gave Adam hell for letting this one be too personal when I should have been looking in the mirror and saying it.'

She turned to Castle and looked at him. 'Rick, I just...I need you to make it better. I need you to take me away.'

'Of course.'

Castle shifted so he was kneeling in the bed with her, and instantly captured her mouth with his. He could feel the sadness in her, feel the heaviness of the weight she carried with her and knew exactly what she needed from him. His fingers combed through her hair, stroking the silky texture, and her little moan was one of partial desperation, partial desire.

'Kate,' he murmured, kissing his way over her jaw and finding his way to her ear where he caught the lobe lightly in his teeth. 'I'm here.'

Beckett closed her eyes as her lips fastened themselves against his neck, her hands pressing into his smooth-skinned back. She could smell him, that smell of him that had been there since day one, that smell that had become so much a part of her world that living without it was like trying to live without oxygen. Her head fell back as Castle traced the smallest tip of his tongue down the side of her neck. She pulled back so she could look in his eyes and she lifted her arms above her head as gracefully as a dancer, and he lifted her sleep-shirt over her head so she was just in her panties; she hadn't made it as far as putting her bottoms on yet. She ran her hands over her breasts, then took one of his hands and pressed it to her body as they tumbled into the sheets.

Castle kept his touch light and tender, his thumb circling her nipple lightly as her hips arched against his in a gentle rhythm. He knew there was probably a part of her that wanted it to be hard and hot and fast, but he knew in the aftermath she would feel better inside and out if he kept it like this. He burrowed his face against her throat when his other hand found her breasts, his thumb rubbing that hot peak so he felt the vibrations of her moans in her throat against his lips. He moved down her body and kissed her breast slowly, sweetly - first the under-curve of it, the slope of it, the inside of it where it had pressed against its twin inside her bra all day and captured the scent of her soap from her shower that morning.

'Rich,' Beckett moaned; God he was driving her crazy. He knew what she wanted and he was making her wait for it. 'Rich, God please.'

'Yes, Kate,' he murmured in a voice groggy with need for her and in one single tantalizing move, he slowly rolled his tongue over her pebble-hard nipple in tandem with his thumb rubbing its mate. Her strangled cry was music to his ears and he sat back to shove off his boxers, watched as she thrust her hips up to rid her body of her panties as well. He lowered himself back on top of her long, lithe body. It wasn't as lean as it once was but she was still slim and sleek and streamlined.

She was his wife.

'Kate, touch or taste, baby,' he moaned when he felt the slick wet cradle of her thighs against his hardening body.

'Taste,' was her breathy reply.

'Okay. Hold on to me.'

Beckett wrapped her arms and legs around him and he rolled them so she was straddling him; then she felt him move his hands to her ass and pull her up his body. She realized what he wanted her to do and she fell forward a little to hold onto the headboard of their bed. She barely touched the wood with her fingertips when she felt her husband's hands on her hips, and then his tongue stroking her. He nibbled and tasted, swirled and dipped, and each pass took away another worry, another layer. He was taking her away, just as he'd promised he'd would. Then all rational thought was gone as she felt him slip two fingers between her thighs, part her secretive heated lips to drive his tongue inside her.

'Jesus, Rich!' She practically screamed it and nearly did a nose-dive onto the headboard as the muscles in her body felt as though they'd dissolved; her arms no longer felt like they could hold her up, so she leaned back instead. Her back arched like a drawn bow, her palms braced on the bed as Castle drove her wild. The orgasm surged through her body like a tidal wave and she let out a gasping, reedy cry of desperation as it washed through her, pleasure radiating from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

Castle gripped her hips to ease her back when he felt her go limp. He absently dragged the back of his hand over his mouth and watched with his eyes glazed with pure lust for his wife as she slipped a hand between her thighs so she could help ease him inside her. When he was inside just enough, he tightened his grip on her hips and thrust inside her. He watched with delight as Beckett's eyes went wide and dark. Her hips rocked as she rode him, slow at first then a little faster and faster until she was moaning to him she was coming again; just as she went up and over, Castle closed his eyes and followed her, the image of her face completely relaxed and wanting him - and only him - seared in his mind.

Beckett let out a sigh as she slithered down to cuddle against Castle's chest. 'Richard,' she sighed, almost sobbing it, 'I love you so much.'

'I love you right back, Kate.'

'That was exactly what I needed. It was...it was fucking, but in a loving way. What?'

'You sound so sweet and precious when you talk dirty,' he teased her, stroking her hand up and down her back when he rolled her to her side, slipped out of her. 'Try to sleep.'

But there was no need to suggest, because Beckett was already yawning and nodding; in less than five minutes, she was out like a light.


	24. Friday Morning

On Friday morning, Lindsay was in the shower and rinsing her hair when she heard her almost-husband came in, and she grinned when he stepped in with her. He'd slept naked beside her, but that had been about being able to feel him naked beside her. Wide awake now, she got to appreciate him visually too, especially the come-hither look in his eyes.

'Morning lover,' he purred at her, already getting hot at the sight of her olive skin slick and damp from the steaming water - no matter what time of year it was, even it was ninety-eight degrees in the shade outside without a humidity factor to consider Lindsay always had a piping hot shower. It occasionally made Adam feel like he was going to boil whenever he was under the spray with her but for the most part, he worried more about the hot-blooded woman instead of the hot water. 'Did you sleep well?'

Lindsay smiled as she wrung out her hair, made room for him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her lips to his in a sticky, lingering kiss. 'As well as I could. Too excited for our bachelor and bachelorette weekends. Did the guys say where they are taking you?'

'Nope, my best man is surprising me.'

'How is it that a man and woman as busy as Daniel and Andrea have even had time to plan this all?'

'Same way a cop and a doctor could wedding plan so efficiently - it's part of the magic. But we have more important things to talk about right now.'

'Like what?'

'Well, it's a tradition you and I only get to talk to each other three times over the course of the weekend. That means no 'last Friday night or Saturday night sex' before we're married, so we need to make it 'last Friday morning sex' before we're married in a week.'

'Oh, you're right that is very much more important.'

'Exactly. So.' Adam stroked his hands up over her hips, her torso, to cup her breasts. He felt his blood pound hard in his veins when he watched her nipples perk up as his fingertips brushed them, her eyes going soft with lust. 'Let's fix that, shall we?'

Lindsay could only reply with a gusty sigh of pleasure as she put her hands over his and turned around. It had taken her some time to admit it, but she loved the feeling of him taking her from behind like this because it had made her feel so naughty; it had overwhelmed her, the surges of lust she'd felt the first time they'd been together like that and it had frightened her to feel so strongly about being so decadent and devious. She knew there were probably more erotic things other couples had done, couples most certainly in her acquaintance, but for her, to feel the proof of his lust for her against her ass made her feel like the most erotic woman in the world.

She tipped her head back against his shoulder, moaning when she felt his lips against her throat, his hand slipping between her thighs to find her already wet and waiting for him. He nudged her legs apart so they were braced on the floor of the tub, and eased himself inside her. 'God, you're huge,' she sighed to him, 'feels so good, my love.'

'Here.' Adam took her hands and pressed them against the tiled wall as his hips moved against hers; each pass made his brain a little fuzzier and he didn't want to be so lost in her that he ended up hurting them. 'Hold on, Linds, hold on.'

They kept the rhythm easy yet hot, almost like they were surprising each other by being so connected, and their twin groans of release echoed and ricocheted off the walls. Refreshed in both body and mind, Lindsay turned around and kissed Adam deeply, tongue tangling with his.

'That was the best wake-up sex of the week,' she murmured to him. 'Wash my hair?'

* * *

'Good morning Beckett.'

Adam waltzed into the bullpen with two coffees in his hands, a bag that had a little treat for Beckett, and a spring in his step. He stopped at her desk and handed over her two-pump sugar-free vanilla latte - he'd learned that was her weakness from Castle - with a mile wide grin.

'What's so fucking good about it?' she snapped, then sighed. 'Sorry. Jojo was sick to her stomach last night.'

'Oh no, poor girl.' All sympathy, Adam sat down in Castle's chair and gave her a worried look. 'Will she be okay to fly next week?'

'Yeah, she's just so anxious about flying. She's like her brother-in-law, not a good flier.'

'But...' Adam pointed back and forth. 'I thought Shane did his mandatory army-time in Israel in the air force.'

'Yeah, he flew helicopters, which is a lot different than being a passenger on an airbus. But he's learned how to self-medicate having flown so much when he and Alexis first got together when she was doing her last year at Cambridge. I can't get my three-and-a-half year old blitzed on bourbon and Coke like he does.'

'Note to self, if Daniel flies us anywhere for my bachelor party, don't sit next to Shane in case he pukes.'

'Trust me, if you're flying anywhere, he won't hurl,' Beckett reassured him. 'He got a prescription for Valium for next week since he knows that you're a recovering alcoholic.'

'It's not like people have to baby me about it, or anything,' Adam started, but Beckett cut him off with a firm shake of her head.

'Our family won't do that to you, Adam, they love you and they know that it's like inviting a diabetic to an ice cream party.'

'I know.' He paused. 'I am curious as to how the rest of the weekend is going to go, considering it's supposed to be the groom who gets blitzed out of his mind.'

'True but you're forgetting one thing.'

'What's that?'

'These aren't your typical run of the mill kind of guys. They helped Shane make wedding invitations when he and Alexis were getting really overwhelmed, and painted more than one nursery while they sent the baby mama off to the spa or out for shopping with the girls.'

'Huh.' Adam mulled this over as he sipped his coffee, and knew he had to put it aside for a moment. 'Okay, three two one and now we're cops. What's the plan of attack for today?'

'I've been on the phone to the Tomasis and they're okay with having Nicky come down here. He'll be here for nine-thirty for us to talk to him. We've also got to touch base with Gil, and we've also got to get in touch with Ashley Archer and Sarah Ritter as well to make sure that they're both doing okay. Next we're hitting up the rest of the staff at the school to see if there was anyone on staff who had issue with him.'

'A thought. What if we got Ashley, Sarah and Nicky to come down all together and we talk to them one at a time so that there's no suspicion.'

Beckett leaned back in her chair, sipped her coffee. 'What's got you thinking that?'

'I think that if Nicky had Ashley and Sarah he wouldn't feel so singled out since we're potentially looking at him for the murder.'

'What is his motive? I'm not disagreeing, Adam.' She held up her hand. 'But what's his motive?'

'He didn't get his way.'

'That's not enough, Adam. You know that.'

'Kate, I went to Washington Irving, and if you think Carolina Witt and her hubby were scary, they were cupcakes compared to the ones whose off-spring were my classmates. Calliope Thrace is a private school but it's considered a few rungs down by a lot of people.' Adam sighed. 'Half the time, the kids in that school would only see their parents if there was discipline issues, and a lot of the time they were given free reign since everyone knew the staff was paid from their tuition. They rarely heard the word no and they certainly didn't have professors with the reputations like Wayne Hill had.'

'So you're saying our primary suspect is a spoiled brat used to getting his own way who doesn't like hearing the word 'no' and really have it mean something the way Wayne Hill meant it.'

'People have been killed for a hell of a lot less.'

'In the meantime, we've got paperwork to get done before Nicky gets here for his interview.'


	25. Boy Time I

By the time the end of his shift rolled around, Adam was very thankful he'd started his morning with shower-sex with his almost-bride, because it had swiftly turned into the high-point of his day. There had been the tedium of paperwork until nine-thirty, when they were waiting for Nicky Tomasi to arrive, felt a bit like being in court waiting for the verdict to be delivered. Of course juries usually took more time than a teenage boy to arrive and when he'd finally arrived there was very little new that he'd been able to add. It had put him and Beckett both in foul moods to be faced with the possibility that a killer at a school could possibly get away with it.

Of course, that had been until they'd gotten word back from CSU, more specifically Jackie their hero in the print lab and CSU's resident new daddy Riley Fontina. Beckett had sent him to the lab to find out if they had anything yet, and he'd been doubly reward - Jackie had been able to pull a partial thumbprint in peanut oil from the professor's go-cup of coffee; though there was no match on file it was more than enough to get them a Monday-morning warrant for sure. Then Adam had gone across the hallway to the new Papa Cheese Whiz to find that Riley despite his first-time daddy rosy outlook had been able to pull some very interesting data off of the in-room laptop from Professor Hill's room. Nicky Tomasi had been logged in but the time-stamps on the computer were not jibing at all with the time-line he'd given at all which meant he was going to be back for another official chat on Monday. Since it was Friday afternoon, there was no way in hell they were going to be able to get a judge to sign off on a warrant but that was neither here nor there - Adam just wanted to wrap this case up.

It was extremely rare for him to feel like he wanted the job over and done with this strongly; he was grateful for every day back he had on the job now since he'd once had it taken away from him. But given this particular case was falling in the days before his wedding, he just wanted it done and over with. He wanted to go home and tell Lindsay it was done and wrapped so they could go on their honey-moon without him having that one-percent nagging feeling like he'd seen Beckett have the entire night before at dinner.

'Yo, lover boy!'

Adam looked up from his desk where he was finishing signing off on the day's paperwork and tidying up his notes from the other interviews conducted that day. A quick glance at his watch told him it was already end of shift, and that meant it was time for his bachelor party weekend to start, beginning with the two-headed Ry-Sposito monster descending on him as he barely completed the thought. He finished shutting down his computer, grabbed his suit-jacket off the back of his chair just as they stopped by his desk.

'Alright, what are you two going to do to me?' Adam looked over to Beckett. 'Kate, what are they going to do to me?'

Beckett held up her hands. 'Don't look at me, this is strictly boy territory.'

'Be gentle, gentlemen.'

'Oh ye of little faith,' Esposito scoffed with his usual cocky grin. 'Don't worry you'll get to keep your five-year chip, bro.'

'While that did force us to be a little more creative, that doesn't mean this is going to be some PC bullshit affair,' Ryan added with a smile and held out his hand. 'Gimme your cellphone.'

'Fuck you,' Adam replied on a laugh as they headed for the elevator; he knew he wouldn't get any trouble for it since they were all officially off the clock. 'You can have the battery, but I'm keeping my phone.'

'Why, you got naked pictures of Lindsay on there you don't want me seeing?'

'Amongst other things.'

'Fine, you keep the battery I keep the phone.' Ryan stepped into the elevator, hit the button for the main level of the garage. He waited for three seconds before turning to his friend and asking, 'Are they the ones from the Vanity Fair shoot or are they ones you took?'

'Seriously, Ryan, fuck off,' Adam laughed. 'Oh, this is gonna be a long weekend with no booze to hide behind.'

'Ah, correction, none of us will be doing that.'

'What?'

'It's true bro,' Esposito agreed, 'If the man of the hour isn't drinking, none of us are.'

'You don't have to do that,' Adam protested.

'You don't get a say on this one dude. And it's like those damn PSAs you don't need booze to have a good time, and that's double for us. So.'

The elevator came to a stop; the doors slid open and Esposito clapped Adam on the shoulder. 'This is going to be a weekend you won't forget.'

The groom could only stare at the sleek stretch limousine with its glossy midnight blue paint job and sparkling chrome. Adam lifted a finger like a man in a trance. 'For us? That's for us?'

'Yep, sure is bro.' Ryan smiled, snapped a picture on his phone camera. 'Come on, don't' wanna keep them waiting.'

Adam tried to not feel like a little boy seeing Willy Wonka for the first time, and forced himself to walk quickly instead of sprinting to the limousine. He threw open the door, climbed in to great cheers - Shane, Dave, Daniel and Castle were all there; Castle had the cigars, Shane and Daniel the cameras and Dave a crystal decanter of something electric green with six shot glasses on a small silver tray.

'Hey there's our man,' Shane crowed, snapping the first of many pictures of the weekend. 'You ready to party, bro?'

'Again, how exactly is this going to be a bachelor party if the traditional drink-till-we-puke part is missing?'

'Would you listen to him?' Dave sighed, waited until Esposito and Ryan were in the limo and had shut the door before he passed out the shot glasses and poured out the electric green from the decanter. 'No faith.'

'That's what I said, bro,' Esposito agreed.

'What is this stuff,' Adam asked, taking a cautious sniff. It wasn't booze, he knew that much, but it had a sweet and tangy scent, almost like liquid Sour Patch Kids.

'I went to a party store called Like a Virgin, it's all party supplies and drink mixes for people who don't drink for whatever reason, and got about a hundred bucks worth of stuff for us to have,' Daniel said. 'This one is the green apple War-Heads mix, just like the sour candy.'

'We decided since we didn't want you to break your twelve-step program, we'd get you jacked on sugar instead,' Castle said with a simple shrug, and Adam knew from the easiness of his conviction that these men were not patting him on the head for his short-comings - they wanted him to stay strong and were making sure they didn't jeopardize that newly acquired five-year chip.

'And besides, I think Lindsay will do enough damage for you both,' Shane added with a wink. 'You shoulda seen the mess Alexis was when she had her morning after from her bachelorette weekend.'

'So what's the plan?'

'Ah-ah-ah!' Daniel held up his finger, raised his shot-glass. 'To Adam, a man who has been through hell and finally found his angel.'

'To Adam,' the others chorused and they clinked glasses before tossing back their shots. The hissing and whistling was just as reactionary as if they'd done rail shots of cheap tequila.

'Holy fuck,' Castle winced, made a face at his glass. 'Are all the mixes like that, Shane?'

'No, just figured that one would loosen us all up,' he laughed, 'plus it makes taking my Valium more palatable.'

The word 'Valium' had Adam's ears perking up as he recalled the conversation from the start of his day with Beckett. 'Are we flying somewhere? Kevin? Javi? Castle?'

'Actually it was my idea,' Daniel said proudly as the limousine turned south-east. 'We are flying to San Diego. We've all gotten our scuba certification, so we are going to SeaWorld to do some diving with the aquarium life.'

'So does that mean I get mermaid strippers?' Adam asked with a completely straight face, and the rest of them cracked up laughing.

'I'll take s'more of that shit, Dave. See?' Esposito held out his glass for Dave to refill it, winked at Adam. 'Told you.'


	26. Boy Time II

'Dude!'

'Right?'

'Dude!'

Esposito and Ryan had to laugh at Adam's sheer sense of wonder when their limo - yes, they'd had a limo waiting on the other end of their first-class plane ride out to California too - rolled to a stop in front of the Costa Azura Resort. It was a beautifully restored eighteen-thirties Spanish villa that had legendarily belonged to a Mexican drug-lord, Marco Murillo who had been nicknamed Narco-Marco by journalists. When his business had begun to grow and expand Narco-Marco started running his summer-home as a hotel for the wealthy whites of the area to keep a legitimate front for his cocaine cartel. Once the US Marshals had busted up the place and tried to shut it down for good, they discovered the local business began to dip - the farmers had become reliant on the hotel for selling their crops, not to mention the fact the place to see where an honest-to-goodness drug lord had made his last stand was one hell of a tourist attraction. The non-criminal branches of the drug lord's family had been brought in to run the hotel and it was now one of the most successful non-chain resorts in California.

'Trust Richard Castle to bring us to a place with a history like this for a bachelor party,' Adam laughed as the valets came forward to handle their luggage from the limo's trunk. 'Think we'll get one of the room where one of Narco-Marco's lieutenants took out one of the local militia?'

'God I love this kid,' Castle laughed, coming up behind the groom and putting his hands on his shoulders for a little shake. 'It's like having a brand-new Ryan two-point-oh.'

'Excuse me?' Ryan tried to pipe up but his words were lost as they headed for the lobby.

'Hey Shane,' Dave asked, 'how come Daniel planned the bachelor weekend if you're the best man?'

'I had almost a month's worth of prep to do for the fallout from the Match Maid in Manhattan case, since I was tagged in when they found the body of Special Agent McMurphy's sister up on the compound,' Shane explained and they all nodded.

'That was a rough one,' Ryan sighed in sympathy.

'Exactly. I haven't even had time to take Alexis out for more than dinner and a movie, never mind the prep for a sendoff like Adam deserves,' Shane replied honestly. 'Plus. I knew Daniel would love to get the chance to plan it.'

'With my help, naturally,' Castle grinned. 'I love to spoil my boys. Hello Flora.'

They'd reached the main desk in the lobby, and Castle flashed the pretty Hispanic concierge a smile that could melt butter. 'I'm Richard Castle with the groom's party.'

'Of course Mister Castle. Just a moment please while I retrieve your itineraries and menus.'

'Itineraries? Menus?' Adam looked around, saw all the men grinning at him. 'I'm a little confused.'

'Don't worry, bro,' Ryan reassured him, and checked his phone to see if he'd gotten a text from Honey-Milk about the surprise she and the other girls were getting ready for Lindsay's weekend. 'Just sit back and enjoy it.'

'Here we are.' The concierge returned, coming around the desk to give them all small folders with the Costa Azura logo printed on the cover. 'Your room keys, room-service menus, complimentary services and other sundry lists are all inside. Your banquet room will be ready as requested for eight thirty, and the shuttle for your entertainment will be arriving at approximately ten pm.'

'What about our luggage,' Dave asked.

'It is already in your room, sir. You need to use your key-cards to access your floors. Enjoy your stay.'

'Richard, you didn't have to do this,' Adam protested as the writer led the group of grown men towards the elevators like a gaggle of school-children. 'I'd have been happy with strippers and a steak at home.'

'That's what I tried to tell him,' Esposito chuckled; they piled into the elevator and were whisked up to the sixth floor of the villa.

'What did he do for you?'

'Weekend in Vegas.'

'They did Atlantic City for me,' Daniel added, 'since Andrea was pregnant and I didn't want to be too far from home.'

'I got Atlantic City too,' Shane added, then felt his eyes pop as the elevator doors opened. 'Wow.'

The suite was gorgeous, a mini-apartment with an ocean-view few ever got to experience in their life time; Adam could see why the villa had been named Costa Azura. The appointments were plush and inviting, rich without being opulent. They'd kept the eighteen-thirties decor - soft settees and sofas, hand-carved desks and tables, faded brass lamps which left the occupants of the room feeling comforted by the luxury rather than being overwhelmed by it. On a table in the foyer was a basket of local fruits and cheeses along with a bottle of sparkling cider, and an envelope addressed to the groom.

'What's that?' Adam asked, pointing suspiciously.

'What's what?'

'That envelope. That looks like something that might contain tickets.'

'Really,' Daniel drawled on a laugh. 'Why don't you find out.'

Adam reached for the envelope and grinned when he look inside to find six tickets to SeaWorld's Diver Dan experience. 'I thought you were joking about this.'

'Nope.' Castle shook his head. 'We're wet-suiting up tomorrow morning at eight, and since we're not drinking we're not going to be worried about hangovers. But tomorrow is a long ways off. You're bunking with Shane, you're over that way-' he pointed towards one of the three bedrooms '-so go grab an hour's sleep to get adjusted to the time-zone change and a shower. Dinner is at eight-thirty.'

Mind spinning, Adam could only do as he was told and could only continue to be mega-impressed over the lush surroundings when he saw the antique sleighbed with what could only be genuine mahogany head- and foot-boards. He stripped off his jacket and shoes, and sprawled face-first onto the bed, closing his eyes as he tried to make sense of the day. The way he'd started out his morning, the lovely shower sex with Lindsay, seemed centuries old now, and that Irish git Ryan had taken his phone battery away from him. He couldn't even use it to look at the naked photos he had of Lindsay on there, for when he wanted to take matters into his own hands after seeing all those strippers the next night and missing his sexy almos-wife so much it was nearly painful.

He rolled to his back, saw Shane there with a grin. 'Less than a week to go, bro,' he said, following suit like Adam had and flopping down on the bed. 'You nervous?' he added on a yawn.

'About being married, no.' Adam shook his head. 'I know a lot of guys worry about the idea of never getting to be with no new women in their life.'

'Those are the men who usually end up divorced three times before they're fifty. Rick is an exception, and a good one too.'

'Being with Lindsay, I haven't had time to worry about missing out on other women,' Adam continued. 'She is exactly what I want, and every day I learn a new little something about her.'

'Spoken like a man who loves his wife.' Shane gave him a little bop in the shoulder, saw Adam trying to fight the weight of fatigue in his eyes. 'Dude, take a nap, it's gonna be a long night.'

'Mmm, kay.'

The last sensation Adam registered was Shane patting his head and murmuring, 'Sleep tight, bro,' beforer waking up nearly an hour and a half later. He sat up like a cartoon mummy, looking around feverishly. When he glanced at the clock, saw it was only seven-thirty, he groaned and eased back a little when he heard the sound of the shower running.

'Shane, you in there?' Adam asked, pounding on the door.

'No, it's Ned Flanders.'

'You gonna be long, I wanna get cleaned up.'

The phone rang, preventing Adam from hearing the answer; he answered it to find Dave on the other end.

'Hey bro, tell Shane we've got the ticket confirmation for tonight so we're a go.'

'Go for what?'

'More surprises for your send-off, dude,' Dave laughed. 'Silly rabbit, bachelor party surprises are part of this male-bonding ritual.'

'Do I ever get to be in the know?'

'If you were, that is half of our fun gone. So shit shower and shave, and we'll see you in forty.'


	27. Girl Time I

While the boys adjusted to time on the west coast, in Manhattan's Grammercy Park Alexis was setting out the last of the Meredeth-made snacks with a slightly melancholy sigh.

'Hey, Lex, what's with the sad face?' Sloan asked as she mixed up a batch of her special secret-recipe girls-night shooters. 'Tonight is about tonnes of fun and naughtiness for the bride.'

'I know, it just feels a little wrong to have Meredeth's food here without Meredeth. She'd make some naughty joke about whipped cream or cucumbers or smoked sausage.'

'It was Lindsay's decision to make, girl, you know that. And you didn't ask Meredeth to cater part one of the weekend, she volunteered her culinary services. You know that too and she'll remind you of that when we see the rest of our posse tomorrow morning.'

'I do.'

Alexis felt a little better hearing that from someone else as she thought about Lindsay's decision. She'd said that despite all the progress regular had given her, Lindsay was still hesitant about sharing a lot of her sex life with these women, that despite the liquor and celebratory purpose of the weekend, these naturally astute observers of human nature would see her as overcompensating for her rape when she bragged about her sex life with Adam. Alexis knew nothing could be further from the truth and they'd all told her that, but Meredeth, Andrea and Lanie, having had their own ups and downs about their bodies, had understood her insecurity perfectly. So they'd agreed the first night, the at-home party night of a bachelorette weekend Twelfth-Precinct style, would be just for the wedding party: Lanie, the honorary mother of the bride, Alexis the maid of honour, and Andrea and Sloan the bridesmaids would be the only guests along with the bride herself.

Rather than grind on the traditional big circle of women being downsized, Alexis instead focused on what was truly important - Lindsay had not only worked through the issues of her rape but had found a wonderful man who accepted all of her and loved her for exactly the person she was, just as Lindsay loved Adam with all his shadows too. It hadn't been Alexis' original intention to set them up at all; they'd each been invited separately to Thanksgiving at her parents' house and had gravitated towards each other. Two days later on Saturday night, Adam had picked Lindsay up from to go for a bite to eat; when the door closed behind them Alexis had done a victory dance worthy of a Superbowl-winning touch-down.

They'd taken it slow - some might have called it prudish, but Alexis knew better than anyone how much growth it showed in Lindsay that she could have Adam hold her and kiss her and not flinch away in fear or disgust. Once they'd achieved the level of intimacy it usually took most couples two weeks to achieve Lindsay hadn't shied away or overcompensated, she'd just fallen in love and accepted Adam. Now they were getting married and though everyone was thrilled for them, Alexis and Lindsay both knew that Alexis was the happiest of them all about it.

The door buzzer went off, echoing in Alexis' mind like a gong, and she went to the intercom to let in the party-goers. She turned back to Sloan, saw her pouring the bright red concoction into recycle-plastic shot glasses. 'What exactly is in that mix, Sloan?'

'You think after fifteen years of being friends I'm going to give away my secrets?' Sloan replied with a wink, dipped her finger into a shot to sample a taste. 'Mmm, yummy. That's gonna put us on our asses for sure.'

Alexis laughed, opened the for Andrea and Lanie who each came in with bags of treats in hand. 'Hello maid of honour,' Lanie sang sunnily.

'Hello mother-of-the-bride,' she replied, kissing her friends' cheeks.

'Hey girls!' Sloan held up bottles of chilled beer in one hand, a pitcher of mai-tais in the other. 'What are you drinking, fruity drinks or wobbly-pops?'

'Mai-tai for me,' Lanie said, with Andrea adding 'Beer for me, fruity stuff later.'

'What's all this?' Alexis pointed to the bags they carried.

'Toys for tonight. Where's the lady of the weekend?'

'Just texted about ten minutes ago, she was just getting to the subway.'

'Huzzah.' Lanie took her tote bag over to the living room, pulled out her well-loved copy of _101 Naughty Questions For Every Blushing Bride_. 'You think she'll be comfortable with this?'

'Oh yeah, it's not that she doesn't like to talk about her sex life with Adam,' Alexis reassured her, 'it's that she doesn't like to share with a lot of people all at once.'

'Understandable,' Andrea said as she mulled over the selection of treats on the table. They would be ordering pizza or something else equally junky later, but for now they had spinach and cheese puffs, crudites, fresh fruit and a little cheese tray with toasted pitas. She decided a little taste of everything was the best way to go, and topped up a plate of healthy snacks with emphasis on carrots, strawberries and Swiss cheese. 'I know when we had that girls' night after I found out I was growing Nessa I was feeling very vulnerable and out of my comfort zone.'

'I remember,' Alexis said with a smile. 'But you still did it and look where you are now. That's what Lindsay is working towards too and she'll be there soon. This kind of night will help her get there, as will the entertainment for tonight.'

There was another buzz of the door and all the girls squealed in delight when they heard Lindsay's voice through the intercom; when the bride arrived five minutes later, they were all cheering as she opened the door.

'Happy wedding!' they all chorused and Lindsay grinned; she'd showered and changed at the hospital into her at-home party clothes so when she arrived she wouldn't have to waste time with the triteness of changing at her best friend's home.

'Here we go darling.' Alexis popped a silly crown of silk flowers on Lindsay's head in lieu of a tiara to fit with the island theme of the wedding. 'Pretty as a hula dancer. You want a drink?'

'Not yet, not yet, not yet,' Andrea chanted and looped the satin 'Bride' sash around Lindsay's body. 'Okay, now a drink.'

Like magic Sloan appeared with a tray of shots filled with her bright red secret-recipe concoction, passed around the plastic cups. 'Here we are, everyone gets one.'

'To Lindsay,' Alexis said, raising her glass. 'A true to life Cinderella if there ever was one.'

'True say,' Lanie agreed; the girls tapped their glasses together and tossed back liquor. 'Sweet zombie Je-_sus_ Sloan, what the fuck did you give us?'

'Fun stuff,' Sloan replied, then looped her arm around Lindsay's waist to take her over to the living room. 'Sit, sit. Alexis get our guest of honour a drink. Lanie, Andrea, bring the snacks over.'

'No, we'll bring plates over here. Giselle is going to be here in-' Andrea looked at her watch '-about forty-five minutes.'

'Giselle?' Lindsay looked around at her bridal party. 'Who or what is a Giselle? Not Giselle Bundchen, Sloan, I know you work with some pretty sexy famous people.'

'No, no,' she laughed; ever since Millicent Berry had shown up to take purchase of Andrea's _Real Live Women_ auction portrait, the girls started to think they'd get the chance to meet more stars working with their friend the star photographer. 'Giselle Thewlis, she's a fantasia girl.'

'A stripper?' Lindsay asked, completely confused. 'I thought strippers were tomorrow night.'

'No, sweetie.' Lanie smiled and hoped it didn't come off patronizing; it wasn't often that Lindsay's slightly sheltered church upbringing showed through, and even after eight years of university that there were still some things she was innocent about made her feel she was filling that mother of the bride role quite well. 'Giselle sells fantasia products.'

'What are those?'

'Like edible panties, massage oils, decks of cards with Kama Sutra positions, vibrators and other pleasure devices.'

'Oh!' Lindsay's cheeks turned a little red and she sipped the beer Alexis brought her. 'I've been to those kinds of parties before, I just haven't heard them called that. I always heard them as passion parties with our hostess-slash-seller being called Matahari.'

She took another sip of beer, then broke into a feline smile. 'I bet Adam would like some edible panties for when we are at the nude beach resort.'

'Nude beach resort?' Alexis sat down beside Lanie, leaned forward along with Sloan and Andrea in anticipation. 'Tell us more.'


	28. Girl Time II

By quarter to ten, Giselle had been and gone and all the girls had purchased a little something to please both themselves and their men in bed; they'd gotten into the shooters, mai-tais and beer once more, and

'And then we had just enough time to get our scrubs back on before anyone noticed we were gone.'

'Damn Andrea,' Lindsay giggled, her head reeling already from the shots they'd consumed. Three already, not including the beers she'd downed with her appetizers. 'Never thought you'd have a moment like that with Daniel.'

'When you're pregnant and constantly horny hormonal, you'll understand,' Andrea told her. 'Who's next?'

'I think it's time for a sweet one,' Lanie snickered. 'Lindsay's cheeks are as red as Sloanie's shooters.'

'That's just the booze. I get red in the cheeks all the time when I drink.' But Lindsay wasn't going to protest the decision after she'd shared some very hot moments with Adam, including the first time they'd fooled around in the shower and when they'd been busted when Shane had called Adam just as he was getting a blowjob from Lindsay and he was almost at the point of no return.

'I have one,' Alexis grinned sloppily. She'd also gotten into the shooters with her bestie, but as she had a lower tolerance for alcohol. 'I don't even know this one, because I was waiting for this moment.'

'This momen'? You knew we were gonna get married, Lexie?'

'I surely did.'

'We all knew it, baby,' Lanie added dreamily, nursing her third mai-tai.

'Wait-wait-wait.' Andrea waved her hand; the words came out as a single stream. 'We're getting off topic. What's the moment you want to know about Lindsay and Adam?'

'I wanna know about their first kiss,' Alexis sighed dreamily.

The women all ooh-ed appreciatively, and Lindsay polished off her beer, reached for a fresh one. She was well and truly on her way to being shit-faced and she didn't give a damn. 'It wasn't until our third date. It was the first time he came down to visit me at Princeton and we were supposed to go to see a special double feature of Tim Burton's _Batman_ and _Batman Returns_ but something happened...I don't remember what, but something got said and we ended up going for a long walk instead and I told him about everything that happened to me.'

'What did he say?' Sloan asked sweetly, her chin propped on her fist as she listened intently.

'He didn't say anything at first, and I asked him to say something, anything, even if it was to tell me that he didn't want to be involved with such a bas...basket-case. I wasn't going to be offended because it was something I'd become accustomed to dealing with over the previous year.' Lindsay paused, wet her whistle with more beer. 'He just looked at me and gave me the sweetest smile, and he touched my cheek and said, I don't now how to say it without sounding like a total cheese-ball but I know there is something starting between us so the last thing I'm going to do is put any pressure on you.'

'Oh, Lindsay.' Lanie gave a little sniffle.

'I started to cry because he was the first man who didn't cringe away from what I had to say, or think it meant I would be an easy lay. He just held me close, and stroked my hair so tenderly.'

'That's so beautiful,' Andrea breathed. 'Did he kiss you then?'

'We held hands out of the park,' Lindsay continued. 'It was the most contact I'd had with a man beyond a cursory hug in a year. I told him that and he told me he genuinely meant it, that whatever I needed to work through would be our priority together. He stayed over and we were lying in bed together watching a movie instead of going out, and we ordered Chinese food, and...and we just laid there together and he said close your eyes. So I did and then...oh, then it was like magic, my doves. It was so wonderful, that first kiss. He was so sweet and shy about it, and he asked me if it was okay, and I whispered yes it was. Then we were kissing again and...I fell asleep in his arms.'

'Damn, girl.' Sloan reached for the tissues, dabbed her eyes which had filled up. 'I thought we were gonna make you blush, I didn't think you're gonna make us c-cry like little children.'

'Blame me,' Alexis warbled, reaching for the other tissue box and blowing her nose with a magnificent honking sound. 'I'm the one who asked the question.'

'I know a better one to help put the mood right back on track,' Lindsay said with a little smile. 'Ask me about the first time he said he loved me.'

'Oh, no,' Andrea sighed, 'I think we all might dehydrate.'

'Yeah, from sweat because it's such a hot story.'

'Okay, there she is coming back to us now,' Sloan smiled. 'What happened?'

'We'd talked about it, as always, and I knew I was going to be ready for that step around our six months but our schedules were just way too crazy. There was the court case for Charlotte McGyver and I had finals, so we agreed it would be when we took our holidays in the summer together. Then Andrea and Daniel lent us the same house we're getting married in.' Lindsay took an extra long pull of her beer. 'We'd spent the day on the beach, playing like children in the surf, then we were drinking ginger-beer on the porch in that swing-rocker, Andrea.'

'I like that one too,' she said with a grin.

'And he said it was a near-perfect vacation, so I took his hand in mine and said I knew of something that would make it perfect. I held his hand and we went inside to the bedroom, and we undressed each other slowly, and it was so hot. We had music and candles, and every girl should be treated like that on their first time.'

'You'd had sex before him though, right?' Lanie inquired, reaching for her mai-tai.

'Oh of course, I hadn't been a virgin since my second month of my freshman year in undergrad,' Lindsay laughed; oh that had a been a good night too, 'but Adam was the first one and only one I'd been with since I was attacked. It was almost like being a virgin again because I was so scared I'd do something that would make him rethink our relationship. I'm sure Lili could relate to that.'

'Meredeth could a little too,' Andrea added. 'She was dealing with night-terrors coming back to her when she was first dating him.'

'Yeah, and the first night we met her, she had one in Richard Castle's guest room.' Lanie remembered that night well, the looked of panic on the usually-cool Javier Esposito's face. 'And look where she and Espo are now.'

'Well, the way Adam and I burn up the sheets, I'm surprised I don't have a hitch-hiker for the wedding,' Lindsay chortled, and Alexis took this opportunity to get them back in the mood for the party games.

'Which reminds me. When you and Adam do the bouquet and garter toss, you know you're going to be caught between dying of embarrassment and complete orgasm, right?'

'Oh yeah, but then, it reminds me of the little show I gave him on our on year anniversary.'

Before she could tell the tale, the intercom buzzed and they all looked around at each other, dumbfounded as to who might be calling on them until Sloan burst out 'Pizza!' and she took off with Alexis for the door to go and fetch their food. Lindsay let her shoulders slump down, as though she were drained from the stories. 'Andrea?' she asked her friend still seated at an angle from her.

'Yes Lindsay.'

'Do you think it makes me whory, or...or overcompensating to talk like this?'

'No, of course not. Why would you think that?'

'Because you all know what I've been through and-'

'And you didn't start fucking everything with a dick to regain your sense of self,' Andrea concluded. 'It's not...hmmm...you're the exception, Lindsay. You didn't act out, you turtled in and that has led us here, to you marrying a wonderful man in less than a week's time. And tomorrow we are gonna get you so sexified and pretty your going to send his blood pressure through the roof when he sees you on Sunday.'


	29. Boy Time III

On Saturday morning, Adam awoke with what was surely a sugar hangover. He groaned as he felt the overly candy-coated feeling in his mouth; to wash it out he got out of the bed he was sharing with Shane, who'd thankfully remembered his bed partner this weekend wasn't his wife, and went to the suite's modest kitchen to brew some coffee. He found Castle already there, dumping spoonfuls of rich smelling espresso into a brewer and yawning widely himself.

'Morning,' Adam rasped.

'Morning back, groom,' Castle replied, locked in the device to the espresso maker. 'Coffee will be up in a few.'

'Marvelous.'

While he waited Adam went to the living room to drink in the gorgeous southern California view and grinned while he took stock of the weekend so far. The night before had been one of total male immaturity and it was fabulous - they'd gone to Six Flags La Jolla which was having a special 'open till 3-am' night because it was the first Friday night since the park's grand opening. Adam loved roller-coasters and to his amazement he'd discovered an activity where he could play cool big-bro to perennial tough-guy Javier Esposito.

They'd eaten funnel cake, pizza, ice cream amongst other things only men could appreciate; because it was one of Adam's rituals at any sort of carnival or theme park, they capped off the over-indulgence of theme-park food with blue slushies so that when they posed for a picture with their tongues out they all looked like they'd bitten a pack of Smurfs. On the way home, they'd stopped by the waterfront and just about all of them had been horribly ill from the combination of fried food and the delayed motion sickness from being on the rollercoasters. Dave had started the trend until it had turned into their own version of the infamous pie-contest scene from _Stand By Me_; with the exception of Esposito since he'd sat out the majority of the extra-loopy coasters they all lost their lunches, then they'd looked around at each other and laughed their asses off as they rolled around in the sand like howling lunatics.

Though Adam's stomach threatened to revolt a little at the notion of anything stronger than coffee and soft toast at the moment, he knew it wouldn't last long and in about an hour he'd want greasy bacon and home fries with lots of his favourite cure-all beverage - black tea piping hot and laced with maple syrup. He sipped his coffee and looked over at Shane who groaned as he sniffed like Tortuga at the delicious scent of coffee while stumbling out of the room.

'Dude,' he groaned, 'why did we eat like that last night?'

'Because an upset stomach is easier to hand than a hangover if you're planning to go scuba-diving?'

'Right.' Shane winked, wagged a finger at his friend. 'Yet another reason a booze-free bachelor party may sound stupid to the less-educated and right now genius to me.'

'Hey, there's our fraidy cat,' Adam teased Esposito when he saw his friend coming out of the second bedroom he was sharing with Ryan. 'How's your stomach, man?'

'Just fine, thanks, but then I didn't eat three funnel cakes to myself like my brave partner.' Esposito jerked his thumb over his shoulder. 'I haven't heard him sick-up like that since Daniel's daddy-to-be party.'

'March-Madness shooter weekend.' Castle nodded. 'That was a fun time.'

'This one I think will take the cake on uniqueness though. Who else will get to say they went scuba-diving with whales and sharks for their send-off into married life?'

'Some do that on their honeymoons, like Daniel and Andrea went snorkeling in Greece,' Shane pointed out.

'Speaking of honeymoons...' Esposito leaned forward on the counter, elbows pressed against the cool marble. 'What gave you and Lindsay the idea to go to a nude-beach for almost a week?'

'We decided we wanted to try something that we knew no-one else would think to try,' Adam replied, 'so we decided on clothing optional beach. But we're also going to do something classy and adventurous so we're going to Rome for a week when we're done. We're doing the Angels and Demons tour, we're going to a winery, touring the Vatican, it's gonna be a blast.'

'How does a guy who has a drinking problem go to a winery?'

Before Adam could answer, Dave, Daniel and Ryan all appeared from their various rooms, Dave and Ryan looking a little worse for wear. 'Morning boys.'

'Coffee,' the trio said together. 'Now.'

'Here we are.' Castle poured coffees all around then had a look at Adam. 'It's almost eight now and we need to be at the aquarium for nine. Our dive time is from nine until two and we've got more surprises for you in store Adam so we need to get rocking and rolling.'

'More surprises? Like what?'

'You are worse than RJ. Drink your coffee."

* * *

Adam had always considered himself an animal lover thanks to the years of going to see horse-racing with his parents but tis was truly something else. SeaWorld was almost like paradise to him with the tanks of dolphins and turtles and whales all gliding silently, serenely through the space.

'Man, Tessi would be in heaven here,' he commented to Esposito as they walked through the tunnel to where they had to meet their aquatic guide. 'Any way you and Meredeth can spring for an early birthday present for her next year and bring her out her on March break?'

'She would be having little girl fan-gasms all over the place,' Esposito laughed.

'Speaking of 'gasms'...' Ryan drawled with a lascivious grin at the groom. 'You and Lindsay get freaky with the fish

'Dude, that sounds so wrong.' Daniel couldn't stop the playful smirk when Ryan realized how his comment coudl be interpreted. 'Besides, those kinds of questions can wait for tonight.'

'What's tonight?' Adam asked innocently, hoping he'd spotted a weak link.

'Well, it's-'

On cue, Dave jumped in. 'No, no spoiling the surprises for tonight, Nurse Brick,' he scolded him even though they both knew it was for form's sake. 'Besides we're here.'

The group stepped onto the platform of the aquarium's scuba tank and through the crystal clear water designed like a coral reef Adam could see eels, tropical fish and manta rays all fluttering under the calmly ripply surface of the water. He saw the gliding monster of a sleek grey shape and realized, to his secret relief, they weren't going dive with sharks but with dolphins. He grinned and wondered how jealous Lindsay would be when she learned he'd gottena jump-start on her; part of their honeymoon package at Eagle Bay was a snorkeling expedition to swim with dolphins at a nearby marine habitat.

Two men and a woman, all the epitome of the California sun-and-fun club, approached them; the woman stopped behind the men to check something in the water while the taller of the men flashing a pearly-white smile.

'Hey there, welcome to Coral Cove Adventures. I'm Matty, this is Kaoma and the little lady playing with the thermometer back there is Darla. You all have your scuba licenses?'

The men took out their wallets and all handed over their shiny laminated cards which Kaoma took and recorded on his clipboard of safety procedures. 'We'll be going into the neighbouring swim tank first-' Matty gestured to the tank opposite the artificial lagoon which was little more than a very very big swimming pool '-so you can get used to the feel of the water pressure. We try to emulate it as best as we can to the ocean but our human guests have said they notice a difference. So we'll head back and get you wet-suited up.'

Ten minutes later, Adam was sitting with his legs in the water of the lagoon; he'd been permitted to forego the swim-tank, as had Shane and Daniel since they'd all had experience scuba diving before. He doodled designs in the water with his fingertips as Darla sat down beside him and he grinned when one of the dolphins came right over to them, nuzzled like the family pet at Darla's knee.

'This is my baby girl Brooks. She was the first calf I delivered and she follows me around like a puppy.' Darla stroked the animal's head. 'Brooks this is Adam, he's getting married next week.'

Adam could only laugh when the dolphin rolled to its back and waved its flippers in the air as if doing a victory cheer. 'You're cute,' he told her, 'think you can get my friends to tell me what their surprise is for me?'

When the dolphin shook her head, Adam shrugged. 'It was worth a try.'


	30. Girl Time III

'Lindsay.'

'Can't hear you, I'm floating away on an island breeze.'

Lanie chuckled as she watched Lindsay roust herself from the bliss of her massage nap. It was day two of Lindsay's bachelorette weekend and after a breakfast of waffles and fruit salad, the girls had whisked the surprisingly not-so-hungover bride to Mid-Town Day Spa where they'd been met by the rest of their girls. Meredeth, Sloan, Robina, Beckett and Honey-Milk were already in their wraps and robes awaiting the bridal party's arrival, and they were all now in various states of treatment and bliss. Lanie had just finished a facial and was eagerly awaiting Lindsay to be finished her massage so they could give her the next part of the surprise for her bachelorette weekend.

'Well float on back to the island of Manhattan, girl, because the next part of your girlie-day is coming up next.'

'After food,' Lindsay informed her, getting to her feet; as she'd posed naked with Lanie for the _Real Live Women_ photoshoot, she didn't mind when she had to slip a robe over her unclothed body and Lanie saw everything. 'All this breeze-floating has made me snacky.'

'Well, you might wanna wait on that one.'

'Hey!' Honey-Milk and Andrea both appeared behind Lanie, smiling broadly with shining eyes. 'Lanie did you tell her yet,' Honey-Milk asked.

'No, interrupting Nurse Ryan, I hadn't.'

'Tell me what?' Lindsay asked, reaching for her panties and slipping them on over her hips, tugging on the loose fitting tank-top. When the women just exchanged knowing grins, she rolled her eyes. 'Don't be like that, tell me what?'

'Just come with me.'

Andrea took her by the wrist and led her into the living room area of the suite where Meredeth and Alexis were both engaged deeply in a conversation with a cocoa-skinned woman who wore the clothes of the other spa technicians and a colourful Caribbean head-wrap. Whatever she was saying was apparently very amusing because it had Meredeth and Alexis both splitting into snorting fits of giggles. When the writer managed to get it together enough to be aware of her surroundings, she turned towards Lindsay and her entourage.

'Hey there's the droid I'm looking for!' she said triumphantly. 'Lindsay, this is Juvela, Juvela this is our bride and your customer today.'

'Wonderful.' Juvela rose, unfolding her long limbs from the settee and picked up a silver attache case. 'We will use room four over there.'

'For what?' Lindsay asked, starting to feel a little freaked out.

'Ryan heard Adam mentioning you wanted to get your belly button pierced to surprise him for your wedding night but didn't know if you could do it on your own because of the needle. So we brought in the best.' Meredeth rose now too and laid her hand on Juvela's shoulder. 'Juvela did Andrea, Honey-Milk and Katie when they were in the Caribbean for New Year's Eve a few years ago, and you've got all of us here to keep you calm.'

Lindsay could only blink. 'I...I don't know what to say.'

'It's okay to be overwhelmed, Linds,' Sloan said, joining the group when she noticed everyone had gone quiet. 'Meredeth does this for her friends, a lot. When I was about a million weeks pregnant with Nate, Jeremy called in a marker and Meredeth visited me with my favourite movie star and we spent the day together.'

'I...I'm a suck when it comes to needles,' Lindsay informed Juvela. 'I mean it, I'm a total wuss, I cry when I have to get a flu shot which is all of two seconds.'

'Not to worry, darling,' Juvela replied. 'I've seen people who wanted to watch the whole time and others who wore sleep masks and listened to heavy metal on their iPods so they couldn't see or hear a damn thing.'

'I'm not that bad, but...' Lindsay looked around at her friends. 'One of you will hold my hand, right?'

'Of course, darling,' Beckett told her. 'Whoever you want in there with you.'

'Andrea,' she replied without a second thought. 'I want Andrea with me.'

'Okay.'

While the rest went back to their spa treatments and snacks, Andrea looped her arm through Lindsay's as they went into one of the treatment rooms, where one of the leg-waxing tables was still set up. Juvela set down her case, opened it to show a whole rainbow of belly decorations.

'First the most important question, you are interested in a loop or a barbell?'

'Barbell,' Lindsay told her. 'Oh, I like that one.'

She pointed to a silver barbell with its bottom portion fashioned with a cobalt blue butterfly on the bottom half. Adam had often referred to her as being a butterfly; most might have called the metaphor too heavy and obvious but Lindsay loved it. That he thought of her as something so delicate yet enduring, beautiful and strong, was as much as a reassurance of his love as hearing those three little words themselves.

'It is a good one, but I think this one might be a little more appropriate.' Juvela plucked out a little velvet cushion and showed her the silver-and-crystal wedding-bells barbell. 'Perfect for a wedding day, a honeymoon and being newlyweds.'

'That looks so expensive though.'

'It's taken care of,' Juvela waved off her worry, set it on the table. She pulled out her tools next, and Lindsay watched as she pulled out each hermetically sealed packet, unwrap it with latex-gloved hands. 'I always use one-time-only needles and clamps. The only thing that is re-used is my tracking marker. Everything else is for you and you alone.'

'Okay,' Lindsay said in a small voice; she had let her eyes wander too far and she saw the needle still in it's wrapped. Andrea must have seen where her gaze had gone and she turned Lindsay's face away.

'It's okay Lindsay.'

She nodded, hopped up on the table and laid down. Without a moment's hesitation she slammed her eyes shut and threw her arm over her eyes so that her nose rested in the crook of her elbow. Her breathing was deliberately slow and she felt Andrea's slim, sturdy hand clutching her thin nervous one. At the sudden wet, cool feeling her her belly button, Lindsay felt her heartrate kick up.

'What's she doing?' Lindsay murmured. 'Talk me through it, please, Andrea.'

'Okay, she just swabbed the area with the alcohol pad and now she is marking where the barbell is going to go.'

Lindsay whimpered when she felt the strong fingers pinch the flesh of her tummy, the metal cold and tight against her skin. 'Now what?'

'Now she is clamping the area and checking to make sure that nothing is going to be hit by the needle.'

'Okay.'

Andrea spoke to her friend in soft murmuring tones, stroking Lindsay's hair. 'You're doing just fine, Lindsay,' she told her friend, 'and it's nothing to be embarrassed about to be fearful of this. But you will look even sexier than you are right now.'

'You coming on to me Lady Nurse Brick?' Lindsay asked through clenched teeth, let out a little yelp; instantly Andrea was there and soothing her.

'It's okay, Linds, it's just Juvela putting the second clamp in place.'

Lindsay nodded and fought with all her might not to cry, but despite her effort a little tear leaked out of each eye. It wasn't until she unclenched them and just relaxed a little that she realized Juvela was unclamping the metal devices. 'Wait, you're not doing it?'

'Sweetheart,' Andrea laughed, 'she's finished. Have a look.'

Lindsay squinted down her body and felt her jaw drop when she saw the sparkling new decoration on her body. 'That's it?'

'Yeah. The clamping always hurts like a bitch, so much so you barely notice the needle going through.' Andrea stroked her hair as Lindsay shuddered out a breath and a few more tears came. 'It's alright baby girl, you did just great.'

'Here we are.' Juvela was back and dabbing at the area with the special cleanser before pressing a cotton pad to Lindsay's tummy and taping over it with medical one-way. 'You'll need to keep it like that for about twenty-four hours or so, and you'll swab the area just like an earring to keep it clean. Here have a look.'

Juvela helped Lindsay off the table and Andrea felt a surge of pride when Lindsay looked at herself in the hand-mirror the piercer held up, twisted side to side and murmured, 'This will be one hot wedding night.'


	31. Whisked Away I

Lindsay stepped out of the room with her belly taped beneath her slip-top, wondering how long she could keep it a surprise from Adam. He loved getting her naked and she knew he would be more than a little suspicious if she balked at one-more-time sex before the wedding. Then again, he would be coming home to finishing up a case with the gnarliest twists and turns that she might just be able to pull it off. No, no, she couldn't do that; they never kept secrets from each other, except birthdays and Christmas.

Maybe she could compromise and tell him she'd gotten the piercing done but he couldn't see it until their wedding night. Yes, that would be pretty damn sweet, to see the googly-eyed look on his face when he saw her naughty little surprise for him, and he would surely appreciate the wedding-bells decoration she'd decided on. The urge to itch and poke at her new addition was strong but Lindsay had been raised a preacher's daughter and self-restraint was as second-nature to her as breathing. Or at least, it had been until she and Adam had finally taken the final step of intimacy, she thought with a giggle. Then she'd practically forgot such a thing existed.

'Hey girl!' Alexis bounded up looking fresh as a daisy. 'Can we see it yet?'

'It has to stay taped up for another twenty-four hours to make sure it starts healing properly.'

'Damn.'

'Don't worry, you'll see it next weekend when we're in Bermuda,' Lindsay assured her with a wink, then looked around. 'Where is everyone?'

'Downstairs. Your piercing was the last thing on the schedule and I waited so you and Andrea wouldn't leave alone.'

Lindsay looked over her shoulder, saw Andrea come out with a little paper bag as she thanked Juvela for everything. 'You get yourself a new little something for the beach, Lady Nurse Brick?'

'Yes I did.' Andrea held up the paper bag, gave it a little shake so the contents shook. 'I haven't gotten a new bobble for my belly in a while so I figure what the hell, it's a great weekend for indulging. How's the belly feeling?'

'Itchy.'

'That'll pass in a little while. Come on. Time for more surprises, bride.'

They headed down to the locker room and when they arrived back on the street fully dressed, Lindsay stopped short when she saw the trio of sleek black town-cars waiting by the curb, along with a glistening silver limo. Each driver stood by the passenger doors with a little sign upon which was written the surnames of the girls' party. Naturally, in the limo was Lindsay, and she was apparently being joined by Alexis and Beckett.

'What are those for?' she asked Andrea, circling her finger at the luxury cars.

'Those are part of the surprise. Or the method of transpo for the surprise,' Robina told her, wandering up as she hung up her cellphone. 'Our food will be ready by the time we get over there.'

'Sweet.' Andrea patted her friend's shoulder. 'See you in a few.'

'See me in a few what?' Lindsay looked around, then felt Alexis tug on her arm. 'What is going on?'

'We'll tell you on the way,' Alexis replied smugly, glad to finally get to surprise the always intuitive Lindsay. It was imposible to plan surprises for her so this weekend was her chance at revenge on her friend. 'Hop in,'

The driver opened the door and Lindsay crawled into the back seat; she knew she shouldn't have been surprised by the champagne already waiting on ice but she was nonetheless. She absently rubbed her fingers over her taped belly and grinned. 'Are we going somewhere ordinary and getting to show up the regular people by hanging out in a limo?'

'That's part one.' Beckett slipped into the seat beside Lindsay picked up the intercom phone. 'We're all set back here, Myers.'

Lindsay barely felt it as the limo glided away like a silent giant into traffic, following the other cards. She looked from Beckett to Alexis who were both trying not to look excited as little girls on Christmas. 'Okay, out with it. I thought we were going out for a wild girls night on the town tonight.'

'We are, we just failed to mention that town is Atlantic City, that's all,' Alexis trilled and got an immense satisfaction from watching her friend's jaw drop in slack shock.

'No fucking way.'

'Yep we have a special reservation just for our group at the Mariott Mystique, we are having dinner at the Portage Sea-Side Lodge, and then we are going to a strip club.'

'A female-performers strip club,' Beckett added for clarification; when she'd been using her husband's contacts to get this part of the trip planned Alexis had mentioned Lindsay loathed going to strip clubs with male performers because they reminded her far too much of the man who had attacked her. 'Everything we see in the shower every day on display for oggling pleasure.'

'Thank you, Lex,' Lindsay said in gratitude knowing that her friend made sure they didn't put her emotional well-being at risk for the sake of some stupid tradition. 'I know it's not exactly something you ladies would enjoy but-'

'On the contrary, I think it's going to be great fun,' Beckett said with genuine interest. 'We've gone to the Grindhouse a few times and another place called The Package Store and those are all about men getting naked. Plus we've got a little game to play while we're there too.'

'Oh boy,' Lindsay laughed; she'd experienced their 'games' before and they were definitely not for children. She settled back against the side-bench of the limo, looked out the window, then wrinkled her brow when they slowed outside a busy little bistro. 'Why are we stopping.'

'Part of the dee-luxe treatment of today. Just wait for it.'

Curious as a little girl waiting for Christmas, Lindsay looked out the window and watched as the patrons on the sidewalk patio stared at the limo, whispered behind their hands when the driver stepped out along with the other cars' drivers and they all went into the restaurant. They reappeared ten minutes later, each carrying two bags to their respective cars. Beckett opened the door and smiled as she took the bags of food from their chauffeur.

'Thanks, Myers.'

'Of course, Detective. Next stop, Atlantic City, or unless one of you needs a potty break.'

His phrasing had Lindsay in a fit of giggles as Beckett passed around containers of hearty gourmet sandwiches and Caesar salads; they were chowing down with exuberance before the motor was even running. Between bites of prime rib beef dip and crispy fresh lettuce, Beckett asked the bride, 'So refresh me again, why do you not want to spend your last single weekend ogling other naked women instead of naked men?'

'Because I know the kind of men they have as dancers in those clubs and all I can think of is that ass-fuck who hurt me when I look at men like that. My man, my dream man that I'm marrying next week...' Lindsay trailed off as she took a sip of the root beer that had been chilling in the mini-bar of the limo. 'That's the kind of man I like to look at, and since he isn't the kind of man who would be considered stripper material and this weekend is about feeling good about myself, I told my maid of honour I wanted to go see some fellow broads get naked.'

'Makes perfect sense.' Beckett nibbled a carrot stick, took a bite of her salmon salad in puff pastry. 'We're all grown-ups and perfectly comfortable in our own skin that appreciating women getting naked isn't weird.'

'Are you sure?' Lindsay fretted a little. 'We can always-'

'Lindsay. This weekend is about you. We are celebrating you, and you've been through a lot. The fact you have found a loving, committed relationship that is rooted in respect and fun and intimacy shows just how strong you are.'

'It really does,' Alexis agreed. She set aside her pear-and-brie baguette and scooted closer to hug Lindsay around her middle. 'I was so proud of you when you told me you were going on a second and third date with Adam, and then when he came down and stayed over the night with you, I knew you two were going to work it out.'

'Aw, damn Lex,' Lindsay sighed dramatically with a smile. 'You getting all this mush-mush out of the way now so that when we're out drinking tonight we won't get all sentimental while chatting about our sex lives?'

'Exactly.'


	32. Whisked Away II

'Dude! Hurry up in there, we've got plans!'

Adam only rolled his eyes at Ryan's pushiness whiel he finished toweling off from teh post-scuba shower they'd all been required to take, though given the salt pH in the pool it wasn't too hard a sell. The day spent with the sea-life had been amazing - they'd gotten to feed turtles and pet manta rays, and because Castle was Castle, they'd gotten their own video of the whole experience from an oceanographic documentarian kept on staff specifically for the purpose of givign the tourists their own Discovery Channel special.

Now they were on their way back to the hotel, but Adam had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn't be that simple; when was a party with this crowd ever so straightforward and easy? When he tugged on his t-shirt, slammed the rented locker shut, he saw Ryan standing there and held out his phone.

'I want my phone call.'

'In a moment.'

'Bullshit, gimme my phone. Oh.' Adam relented when he saw his fellow detective pointing to the sign that read 'Please stow all electronics in wet-launch and locker-room areas.' 'Fine. The moment we're in the limo I'm calling my sexy almost-wife.'

'That's one,' Ryan warned him playfully and considered himself quiet lucky when Adam didn't push him into the pool of nurse sharks as they walked past the other dive experience tanks to where the rest of the men were waiting for them by the aquarium's entrance. 'Hey, we ready to roll out?'

'You know it, bro.' Esposito tipped his sunglasses down his nose, grinned. 'And we ain't rolling, we're flying.'

'What?'

'Du-ude!' Dave hissed it, drawing out the syllables for emphasis. 'No spoiling the surprises!'

'You sound like Finn, Dave,' Shane chuckled. 'Castle's waiting for us out front.'

'We gonna eat soon?' Adam rubbed his belly. He always forgot how much athleticism was involved in diving until after it was done. 'I'm starving.'

'Yeah, soon,' Daniel said vaguely as the limo rolled up to meet them, Castle standing up through the sun-roof.

'Alright, we have confirmation, we are good to go.'

'Sick.' Ryan slapped Adam's shoulder and grinned as he held out Adam's phone to him, then jerked it back. 'Hold on, before you make your call, we have to tell you where we're going.'

'I thought we're going to the hotel to get ready for going to see strippers.'

'Strippers, yes, hotel, mos-def, but not here. We're hopping over to Las Vegas,' Esposito said proudly and for a moment he could actually see Adam's eyes spinning.

'Vegas? We're going to a stripper-show in Vegas?'

'Not just a stripper show, we're going to Glitterotica.' Ryan handed over Adam's cell to him. 'Now you can call your almost-wife.'

As Adam stepped away and trieto fathom just what the fuck a strip-club called 'Glitterotica' would entail, he dialed Lindsay's cellphone and held his breath until she picked up. He never liked leaving love-note voicemails, he always thought he sounded so damn goofy when trying to be sexy over the phone. 'Hey, there's my toaster strudel,' he teased her when he heard her voice come on the line.

'Hello yourself, Belgian waffles,' Lindsay giggled. 'You having fun with the boys?'

'Hell yeah. Tell you all about it when we're home tomorrow.'

'What's on the playbook for tonight? Wait, wait, let me guess. Gambling, strippers and steak?'

'Something like that,' Adam laughed. 'How about you?'

'The same. Our strippers even have tits like yours will.'

Adam chuckled lightly, shook his head. 'Can I tell you how hot it is you and the girls are going to see other women get naked?'

'Oh, the tried and true prurient male fantasies. That will make the other little surprise I've got just for you even better.'

'Surprise?' He felt his senses perk up; for whatever reason he knew exactly what she was talking about. 'You got it done?'

'I did. And it looks so sexy, baby, you're gonna be a goner on our wedding night. I have to keep it taped up until then so it won't get infected will it's still fresh, so the first time you get to see it is after we say 'I do' next week.'

Adam closed his eyes and willed his body not to respond to its natural hormonal drumbeat. 'Damn, girl,you are definitely punishing me, I can feel it. I just wish I knew what my crime was.'

'You'll find out soon enough,' Lindsay teased him and Adam swore he heard his own neurons begin to fry. 'But my tummy will be a little tender there for the next day or two so when we're having reunion sex tomorrow night, just be gentle, okay?'

'You got it. Hey, I love you.'

'Love you too. Now go enjoy all those pretty naked girls with daddy issues.'

Adam laughed as he hung up the phone and tried a couple of the yoga breathing techniques he'd learned in rehab so as not to have a surprise appearance from little Adam at such an inconvenient time. When he was certain he wouldn't make an ass of himself and endure the worst kind of teasing from his friends, he rejoined them and hopped into the limo where Shane had produced what looked like a bottle of champagne and was pouring glasses all around.

'Not to worry bro, it's just sparkling cider, but these will go down much nicer with a drink of any kind.'

Adam glanced over and saw that Castle had produced a box of Romeo Y Julieta cigars, freshly clipped and ready to be lit. 'Now that's the kind of indulgence I can definitely love,' he grinned, taking one for himself and letting Daniel touch the tip of the lighter to the end. 'I could definitely get used to this princely kind of treatment.'

'Well, if you feel like a prince now, you'll feel like a king when we get to Glitterotica,' Dave told him. 'It's quite the interesting place.'

'When did you go?' Shane asked, puffing away on his cigar; he rarely had them at home since smoke tended to bother Alexis.

'In February, when we took the kids to L.A., Oscar watched them for a few days while Lanie and I went to Las Vegas for an early anniversary trip.' Dave didn't add it had been her suggestion they go to a strip club together and then once back at the hotel she'd give him his own private show. 'We had a great time.'

'I'm confused.' Adam wrinkled his brow. 'I thought your anniversary was in December?'

'It is, it's actually New Year's Eve, but since there is always a party at Castle's loft on New Year's we use the anniversary of our first date to celebrate,' he explained, 'which was March twentieth.'

'Ah, okay. That's the fun part of being married in September, no holidays to interfere with things like that.'

'Mere understands that really well,' Esposito agreed, 'her birthday is close to Hallowe'en, and Rick you're actually born on April Fool's Day, right?'

'That's right, and Jojo's birthday is New Year's Day too.' Castle thought of his wife out on the town with Lindsay and Alexis and the rest of the girls, and tried not to pout over the idea he was missing out on prime girl-on-girl fantasy material. 'Man, Adam, you're gonna get so laid when you get home.'

'When did you and Lindsay first seal the deal,' Daniel asked, knowing it was time to get Adam from fun to freaky mode now.

'Our trip to Bermuda, just after Lindsay's graduation from Princeton. It was hot, no question, but...'

Adam trailed off as he remembered the tender hopefulness in his girl's face, the look in her eyes that clearly broadcast the question 'am I good enough for you' to him. He'd taken away her fears with a single kiss and when he slipped inside her that first time, felt her shudder from his touch as she came for him, he'd felt like a god. When they'd been laying together in that afterglow of their first time, he'd told her he loved her and she'd said it back to him too.

Castle saw that Adam had gone quiet, prompted him. 'But?'

'It's not the rip-roaring nasty stuff you share at a bachelor party.'

'Hey we didn't ask for a blow-by-blow, no pun intended,' Dave laughed. 'And besides there's plenty of time to hear about the nasty stuff we all know you two have gotten up to later.'


	33. Stripper Time I

'Alexis, be straight with me.'

Lindsay finished running her hairbrush through her freshly straightened so the dark waterfall hung sleekly to the middle of her back, turned to look at her maid-of-honour who was dabbing on a top-coat of lip-gloss. 'Is it really weird we're doing this?'

'Lindsay, I swear, you're worse than Andrea some days,' Alexis chided her gently. 'This weekend is about you.'

'But everyone is here, and everyone should have fun.'

'And we will because we're out celebrating you getting married.'

'But-'

'Lindsay.' Alexis rose and put her hands on her friend's cheeks, gave her a gentle smile. 'This weekend is for you, it is the bride's choice of what we get to do. We just planned the surprises along the way for you, that's all. Besides, I've known plenty of straight women who prefers to watch other women at a strip club. You're also forgetting one very crucial thing.'

'What's that?'

'What's the number one male fantasy in the world?'

'Girl-on-girl,' Lindsay replied automatically.

'Exactly, and how hot do you think Adam will get when he learns you have been watching other women jiggle and bounce and were getting aroused by it because it reminded you of how you wanted to give him his own little show?'

The idea of doing a striptease for Adam - something Lindsay had thought about doing for their first married Valentine's Day - gave her goosebumps all over and she grinned slyly at her friend. 'He won't have a fucking snowball's chance.'

'Exactly,' Alexis said again, gave a little shimmy. 'Come on, let's go find our girls.'

They met the others downstairs in the lobby - Lindsay and Alexis had gotten a suite just for the two of them, especially for the bride and maid of honour - and when she saw the girls were just as giddy as Lindsay felt now, the tension of being thought ridiculous began to fade.

'There's our girl!' Lanie had caught sight of them approaching and gave Beckett a little jab in the ribs with her elbow to get the rest of the group's attention too. 'Hey sexy lady! You ready for some fun?'

'You know it.'

'Wait, wait, picture time!' Every the shutterbug, Honey-Milk got them all to squish together for a group shot, then gave Lindsay a squeezing hug. 'Okay, time to get you drunk off your pretty little ass with naked entertainment.'

They took Lindsay to a little spot called The Zodiac Club, a tasteful place with the main show-room done in blues and golds, and each dancer had gold stars painted on her body in the form of one of each of the constellations. And Lindsay did use the term 'dancer' lightly - these women were doing some acrobatic tricks, in heels no less, that would make some contortionists weep tears of joy.

When they'd been seated in their VIP section near the stage Lanie passed around singles to each of the women while Beckett reached into her purse and pulled out a little set of score cards, handed out markers as one of the tight-body waitresses brought over a round of test-tube shots.

'Okay, ladies here's how it works - you give the dancer a score out of ten on style and technique, and then whoever has the highest scores does a shot with Lindsay. You refuse your shot, you have to tell a dirty story about you and your man.'

'I'm in,' Meredeth said with a grin, passing around shots to get them all started. 'And I think Miss Leo Lioness is up first.'

The girls focused their attention on the stage and began to watch the woman, lithe and smooth in her movements, whip around the silver pole; Lindsay was transfixed, watching how the woman made eye contact with her audience and totally aware of her own power to make them lap after her like panting dogs. She shifted forward in her seat, Alexis' advice coming back to her -_ how hot do you think Adam will get when he learns you have been watching other women jiggle and bounce and were getting aroused by it because it reminded you of how you wanted to give him his own little show - _and licked her lips a little.

When the performance was done, Lindsay marked down an '8' on her card in bright green marker, looked at the other girls. 'Read 'em and weep ladies.'

The women held up their cards, and everyone made ooh-ing noises when it was Robina and Meredeth who matched Lindsay's score of '8' as well. They reached forward for the shots but, Meredeth snatched her hand back, grinned. 'I think since I've got a reputation amongst our friends as having turned my husband part rabbit I should tell the first dirty story of the night.'

'Yes, yes, yes,' Lili agreed with a happy little wiggle. 'I know he's my brother but I like hearing about my friend getting laid when it puts a smile like that on her face. Out with it mama, which one will it be?'

'Oh, let's let the bride pick,' Sloan giggled. 'She is the one calling the shots right now.'

'Hmmm.' Lindsay took another two test-tubes and tossed them back to get her tongue to loosen up. 'Best moment of inconvenient arousal.'

'Oooo, that's a good one,' Andrea snickered, then took another test-tube shot for herself. 'How 'bout it Mere?'

'I was sitting with him at a concert at Lili's church when Lili was singing and Javi started getting all squirming over one particular song, and I couldn't figure out what the fuck his problem was, so I asked him and he whispered in my ear, the way that girl is singing that high note, that's what you said like when you come, and I just about melted into the floor.'

'Did you two find an empty confessional?' Lindsay teased her and Meredeth simply grinned.

'We barely made it back home before we were tearing off each other's clothes.'

'Nice. Okay bride,' Lanie gave her shoulder a little bump. 'Your turn now.'

Lindsay thought it over, and could only come up with one answer. 'It was when my parents were visiting in February, when I had that trauma case go south and then they made me stay up after my shift to make dinner. Adam took me into our room for a little privacy so I could just relax a little and I could hardly see straight I was so tired and overwhelmed by just needing to...well...'

'There's not shame in admitting you wanted to bang your man, Lindsay,' Beckett assured her. 'Sometimes when I have a tough case that's all that gets me through the day, is the knowledge I can go home and bone Rick like a French duck just to get it all out.'

'Okay, so I just need to...I need to fuck him, to feel good again,' Lindsay admitted on a rush, liking the feeling of being so open with her friends and not being judged, 'so we started kissing and making out, he was putting his hands on me and my mother knocked on the door.'

'No!' Sloan gasped along with Lili and Robina, the latter chipping in, 'What did you do?'

'She said for me to not be long, she needed help in the kitchen. I replied okay, and...well, I let Adam finish me off first.' Lindsay bit her lip, glanced up at the Virgo dancer gyrating on stage in time to Madonna's appropriately matched _Like a Virgin_. 'I've never so naughty as when I went back into the kitchen with my mother as I did that night with the feeling of Adam's fingers between my thighs.'

'Whoa.' Alexis waved a hand in front of her face. 'Spicy.'

'Oh shut up, it-'

'It's a perfect story for tonight,' Sloan cut her off, and grabbed a shot for herself. 'Now something a little less embarrassing. How about we hear some naughty stories from you and Adam going to Bermuda on your eight-months together. You already told us that was when you were first sleeping together. I bet you two got pretty wild huh?'

'Wait, wait.' Lili held up one hand, tapped her score-card with the other. 'We have more shots to hand out and more bodies to watch!'

'Oooh, Scorpio is next!' Meredeth crowed triumphantly. 'Us Scorpios are always hot.'

'Which explains so much about you,' Robina teased her friend.

Lindsay listened to them, grabbed another shot. If this was only the start of the night it was going to be one to remember for sure.


	34. Stripper Time II

'Hello, welcome to Glitterotica.'

Adam swallowed tightly as he stepped out of the lobby of his hotel with the rest of the men - Las Vegas' Treasure Island no less - and tried not to stare at the nubile young redhead and brunette in tight silver mini-dresses standing beside what looking like an Escalade stretch limo with the name of the club emblazoned on the side of the sleek black boat of a car. Each had a pot of some kind of paint in their hands along with a delicate looking brush. 'Who are they,' he muttered to no one in particular and Ryan grinned.

'Part one of tonight's entertainment, son.'

'My name is Opal,' the redhead said with a charming smile. 'Where is the groom?'

'That's me.' Adam cautiously raised his hand and Opal stepped forward, began to dab her paintbrush on his right cheek.

'Congratulations. My man and I are getting married in September too, but a year from now, not in a few days like you and your lady. When's the big day?'

'Next Friday.'

'There we are.' Opal finished putting the outline of a wedding bell on Adam's cheek before moving on to Shane and Esposito while her partner looked after the others. 'Your table is ready and waiting for you at the showroom. My partner, Ruby, will show you in once you are there.'

'Thanks,' Adam said again, unsure of what else his brain could muster. He'd taken a sideways look at the brunette and could only think of Lindsay; the woman's angular nose and soft, round chin were almost a twin to his own sweet bride's image. 'What is Glitterotica?'

'A total erotic experience for the eyes and mind. No touching permitted of any kind,' Opal replied with a kind smile as she ushered the men onto the bus. 'It's why we're so popular amongst grooms looking for a night out with the boys who don't want to give their women reason to worry.'

'Cool.'

'Enjoy your night.'

Adam took a seat in the Escalade between Esposito and Shane, and wasn't surprised when the sweet-and-sour shooters came around once more. 'So, is this the part where you get me to start bragging about Lindsay and share stories on your ladies too?'

'Lindsay, yes but other ladies...' Shane trailed off, gave a tick with his cheek. 'That is something we'll save for the club, considering the lady in my stories is the daughter of one of the men present.'

'Oh yeah.' It was so easy to forget that Shane was actually Castle's son in law some days, as Adam never dwelled on the fifteen-year age gap between Shane and Alexis. Instead he grabbed another shooter and grinned. 'What do you want to know?'

'First time with Lindsay, we kinda already know about through our girls,' Ryan told him nicely, 'so let's say...strangest place you guys have ever done it.'

'Oh, I doubt you wanna hear that one,' Adam chuckled.

'Dude, it's your bachelor party,' Dave reminded him. 'Dirty stories and jaw dropping moments are a must tonight. Share.'

'Alright.' The groom shifted in his seat a little, leaned forward. 'Strangest palce we ever did it was...the locker-room shower at the precinct gym.'

'No, you didn't bro!' Ryan laughed. 'Seriously?'

'Oh yeah. It was during that heat-wave in August after we started having sex, and Lindsay looked like hell, she was having really bad heat-stroke so when she came to meet me after I was off-shift and done my work-out in the gym that night, I told her to zip into the locker room and get a shower. I joined her and one thing led to another.'

'You didn't worry about getting busted?' Daniel asked him, remembering the hot preggo-sex he'd had in the on-call room with his wife when Andrea had been pregnant with Nessa.

'That was part of the turn-on,' Adam replied with a grin and he got a hearty slap on the shoulder from Esposito.

'Next thing you know, you'll be busted at the house in the Hamptons by my partner in crime.'

'Oh, Javier, no.' Ryan winced visibly. 'Must you bring that up all the time?'

'Yeah, I must,' Esposito responded with a friendly, loving sneer; it was his job, after all, to remind Ryan of that indiscretion as often as he could. 'Maybe you can collect them all like baseball cards.'

'Alright, you two,' Dave laughed. 'Back to embarrassing the groom. What about being interrupted by a ringing phone, how often that happen to you two?'

'Depends what you mean by interrupted.'

They pried the details out of Adam all the way to Glitterotica; when the Escalade stopped and they were escorted into the showroom, passing the through the corridor with the erotic but not trashy live art posing in the glass-front booths. When they reached the main showroom, Adam understood why they referred to it as such - it was lit almost entirely in black-light, and the dancers popped like daisies in a spring rain no stage with their day-glow body paint. As they walked in, a dancer striped like a neon green zebra was writhing and wriggling around to some unknown R&B tune designed to put lovers in the mood.

As they were just a group of men right now, Adam could only let it make him fantasize about his woman, and how hot was it she was going to a female-performer strip-club too? He had a sudden flash of two Lindsays, one the original the other a carbon copy, dancing together like this woman was, running her hands over her body and he swallowed tightly.

Esposito caught the look on the man's face and grinned. He knew that look well as he'd caught it on himself in the mirror more than once after sexing up his gorgeous Danish angel. 'Don't worry bro,' he told his friend, 'we'll give you back your phone tonight so you can call your woman.'

'Call her?' Adam looked at his watch; it was just after ten Las Vegas time. 'If I call her, I'm going to get an earful of a very drunk Lindsay thanks to your wife and her friends and then she'll feel guilty about it and that is so not cool. Besides I've got pictures of her on my phone,' he added with a salacious wink.

'Can't really say too much about that, since I've got new ones of Mere on there too.'

'How do you do it, Javi?' Adam blurted out. 'How do you have everything you do with her, and still be a cop?'

'Give and take, a lot of love, communication and good sex,' Esposito replied honestly. 'There isn't a single thing in the world I can't talk to my wife about. I might need to talk to my boys about the petty guy shit, you know, but the big stuff, Meredeth is my first and last.'

'Lindsay and I talk about everything, even the hard stuff. Probably we're so good at that because we've both been through a lot.'

'Yeah but the way you look at her, man, you can tell there is no one else in the world for you.'

Adam squirmed a little, then grinned. 'Thought we're supposed to be here to admire naked bodies and bouncing boobies.'

'Oh, we can do that and be manly men appreciating our wives.' Esposito winked as they sat down at their table, turned his attention to the show on stage. He pointed to where a new trio of dancers, these ones in silver and purple paint and dancing to Prince, were gracing the stage. 'Any of those remind you of Lindsay?'

'The middle one, the shorty, reminds me of Jenny,' Ryan said, catching the tail end of what his partner was saying, and plunked himself down on the other side of Adam. 'Especially her butt. Jenny's butt bounces like that when she dances.'

'She dance for you, big boy,' Esposito egged him and Ryan flipped him off just as Shane sat down with them; a few moments later a waitress brought over a platter of shooters. 'Oh, hey miss thanks but we're not drinking.'

'These are courtesy of Mister Castle, his private stock he said would be just for your party,' the waitress replied, bending low to give them all a peek at her impressive cleavage. 'He informed us when he made the reservation the groom doesn't drink, and had this particular selection sent over.'

She placed three bottles of soft cider-champagne in the centre of a table along with a bucket of ice and four flutes. 'Enjoy your evening gentlemen.'


	35. Welcome Home Lover

On Sunday afternoon, when they'd arrived back in New York City and the limo had taken them all home, the only thing Adam wanted to do was wrap his arms around his wife. If possible, he 'd prefer her naked and dreamy-eyed but he'd settle for her clothed and snoring too. He always knew when she'd been out on the town with her girls because any time Lindsay had any kind of booze when she went to sleep it off she snored like a gutted boar.

The very idea he was looking forward to going home to his very hungover snoring wife - no almost-wife, he told himself - proved to Adam just how much he loved Lindsay.

As quietly as he could, Adam unlocked the door of the apartment in Waverly Place and dragged his suitcase behind him. He could only shake his head when he saw the trail of clothes from the kitchen to the bedroom. Another habit of Lindsay's when she'd been partying with her friends was to come home and start stripping off in the kitchen so by the time she landed in bed she was down to just her perfume.

He left his suitcase by the kitchen table and moved silently as a ghost towards their bedroom, following the low humming buzz; Adam shoved open the door and could only laugh. Lindsay was indeed hungover, sawing them off like a champ while she lay sprawled like a starfish on the bed and as predicted, she was wearing only her engagement ring, earrings and her nail-polish. Very pretty nail-polish, he noted, as he removed his own clothes so he lay naked beside her on the bed. Adam stroked his hand over her hair, studied her face as her lush mouth gaped open while the most horrendous noise escaped.

With a careful touch he stroked the smooth, soft flesh of her back and sighed softly. It was all Lindsay needed, apparently, to be rousted from her deep slumber. Her face wrinkled up like a child's, cranky at having her naptime disturbed, her hand coming up to touch her face. When it bumped into Adam's shoulder, she used all of her energy to peel open her right eye and squint.

'Adam? Baby that you? You're really you and not a dream?' she whispered in a hoarse voice.

'I'm me, real as real gets, my love,' Adam whispered back.

'I dreamed you were here, but you weren't you, you were...' Lindsay trailed off, somehow found the wherewithal to twist to her side and open the other eye. 'You were like some big movie star or rock star and just came by to give me an autograph.'

'No groupie sex?'

'You said I was too good for groupie sex.'

Adam laughed softly, then let his gaze track down to her belly, where she had a wad of gauze taped over her belly-button. 'That's it?'

'What's it?'

'That.' He poked his fingertip lightly at her tummy and wasn't surprised when she winced a little. 'Still tender?'

'A bit, yeah. And before you ask, I want the first time you see it to be our wedding night, my love.'

'Okay. Hey I forgot something.'

'What?'

'This.'

Lindsay's very tired insides fluttered when her husband - whoops, her _almost_ husband - laid his lips against hers. It helped with the hangover; she didn't get headache hangovers just she felt like she'd had her head wrapped in cotton before sticking it in a toaster oven and felt achy all over. She sighed deeply and moaned into the kiss, felt her body respond against his. She loved how he made her feel, so sexy and desirable with just a single kiss like that. There was nothing on earth like it; Lindsay hooked her leg over his hip and arched towards him.

'Oh, baby,' Adam groaned in reflex, his blood beginning to bubble madly. 'Lindsay, you sure you feel up for this?'

'Yeah, I do, and I know you do too. And if you didn't, I have a little story that would fix that right away,' she replied dreamily.

'Why don't you tell it to me,' he suggested; he rolled them so Lindsay was on her back beneath him. Adam loved Lindsay underneath him when they made love, so she could look into his eyes and know just like she had from the first night they'd made love that she could trust him with her body and her heart. 'Then I'll be even more...up.'

'Mmm, okay.' Lindsay closed her eyes, turned her head to the side so he could plant a trail of kisses up and down her neck. 'So we went to a strip club with female performers, right?'

'Mm-hmm.'

'Well, there was one girl we saw was built a lot like me. Big boobs, wide hips, tawny skin, and the way she looked when she did her thing, all I could think of was doing that for you. Giving you your own private show one-on-one like that, watching you get all hot and bothered while you watched me put my hands on my body made me so hot Adam, I...' Lindsay trailed off, put her mouth against his ear to murmur the words in a way she knew would make him hard as iron. 'I couldn't help myself.'

'What couldn't you help?'

'That night when we went back to the hotel, I had to get out the little toy I got on Friday night from the fantasia party and get myself off and wishing the entire time it was you.'

Adam closed his eyes and groaned as all the blood in his body raced into his groin and made him stand straight up. 'Damn, Linds, you're gonna make me come here and now, and that's no fun for you.'

'No, so why don't we fix that?'

It was all the incentive Adam needed. He crushed his mouth to hers in a fierce kiss, hands squeezing and cupping her breasts, teasing her nipples into taut little peaks. He streaked down her body to capture the right one with his lips, his tongue flicking over her and making her moan deeply. The flood of heat between her thighs made him feel like a king, and he managed to tear his mouth away from her body to say to her in a breathless rush, 'Lindsay, you want to be on top?'

'No, I want you to fuck me, Adam, I...just fuck me, please,' she replied in the same desperate tone.

Adam shifted them, his palms on her thighs as her hand moved between their bodies to help him inside. He was just far enough in when her hand fell away and she thrust her hips upward; he filled her to the hilt, slammed hips against hips deep and slow. It was the kind of sex he knew would clear her mind and make her all but scream for him when she came. His eyes never left her face as he moved inside her, each stroke he gave she matched; she was tight as a vise around him, telling him he was so good, so good baby and to never stop.

Lindsay arched her back, hands fisting in the sheets as she felt the orgasm wing into her body, her mind all but evaporating when she shuddered in release. Moments later she felt his breath stop and start, stop and start as he moaned her name once before he came with her. She put her hands on his chest to feel the gallop of his heart beneath them; she loved the feeling of his heart racing away like that because she could get him that turned on. It was such a powerful feeling, but even better than that was this - spent and sated, her man cuddled against her breasts, his hands holding her close to him as they both tried to get their breath back.

'Well,' she murmured, 'that's one way to be welcomed home.'

'I'll say. Hey Linds?'

'Yes Adam.'

'I didn't hurt your belly, did I?'

'No, not at all, I...' Lindsay paused, not liking the sudden rolling in her stomach. 'I...'

'Lindsay?' Adam was on his knees in a flash as he saw her go very still. One look at her face and he was pulling her to her feet, running her across the hallway to the bathroom. It wasn't a moment too soon as he watched her pitch forward to her knees in front of the toilet, and finish getting the rest of her hangover out of her system. 'It's okay baby.'

'You sure?' she whimpered before hurling once more.

'Yes, I'm sure,' he replied and found a hair tie to pull her hair back. 'Consider this practice for when you are bed-ridden with morning sickness.'


	36. Back to Business

Being a patient man, Adam had no problem waiting his almost-wife out as she finished hurling like her life depended on it. Lindsay was rarely sick and even more was was her going out on the town and drinking to the point of this level of hangover; all he could do as she wretched was wonder what the hell the girls had given her to drink. Nah, best not to go there, he decided, since it was an obvious answer from the way Lindsay was puking. He'd managed in between sessions to get them both some clothes so they would not have the added vulnerability and awkwardness of being naked and sick; once she'd finished and was sitting on her butt on the bath-matt, Adam stood up to reach for a hairbrush and one of her brightly coloured elastics to brush her hair off of her face.

'Bet that feels better, huh babe,' he asked and Lindsay turned baleful eyes to him.

'I'm never drinking like that again in my life. Not even when we have Sloan's bachelorette in a month. Thank you,' she added when Adam kissed her brow and put the finishing touches on a sloppy braid. 'I could use a shower, I think, let the steam clear my brain.'

'You'd do better with a bath.'

'No.' Lindsay shook her head, patted her stomach. 'Rules of the road. No stagnant water for a week.'

'You're not that dirty, babe.'

'No, it means it has to be runnign water like a shower,' she giggled. 'And considering the wnoderful hangover sex we just had a little while ago, I'd say I'm your very dirty girl.'

'Damn right you're my dirty girl. So.' Adam patted his knees, pulled Lindsay to her feet. 'Shower for you, and don't worry you can keep your promise. I won't peek at your belly jewel.'

'It's very sexy,' Lindsay teased him, and chuckled at his frustrated groan. 'Friday, darling, remember? You can see it Friday. You won't know where the time has gone.'

'That's true because we've got a shitload of work to do tomorrow,' Adam started, then found himself cut off when lindsay held her fingers to his lips.

'None of that for now, we still have until midnight to be in play-time mode.'

'Fair enough. Shower, and I'll make you tea.'

Lindsay nodded, got to her feet to run the water. She tugged off the clothes Adam had brought her, peeled off the tape from her belly, wincing as the glue stuck to her skin. Her head was spinning but as she stepped under the hot fall of water and began to soak her hair, she had to admit it felt pretty damn good. Almost back to human, she decided, and she'd finish the job once she had some food in her belly. The good hangover kind, not the stupid rabbit food she'd forced herself to eat to make sure she looked her best for her wedding day.

Seeing as her thoughts now centred on fueling her body and not on making sure her head stayed on her shoulders and didn't roll out the door like a pumpkin, Lindsay stepped out of the shower; she donned the robe Adam had brought in for her with a sweet little sigh. The moment she opened the door, the sigh turned into a heartfelt moan as the scent of takeout hit her nose. How he'd gotten it there so quickly, she had no idea but Lindsay didn't bother questioning it - that was the magic of her almost-hubby.

Lindsay zipped into the bedroom to put on her pyjamas in record speed, then casually sauntered out. The cool, sleepy pretense was gone when she saw what Adam had ordered for them.

'Oh, baby, I love you,' she said breathlessly with such love that Adam could only grin and walk over to wrap his arms around her. 'How did you get this here so quickly?'

'You were on your knees barfing your brains out, you didn't even notice I'd left,' he replied with a bemused little smile. 'But I know my woman and I know once she finishes sicking up the worst of the booze's aftermath, she'll want a good non-prissy girlie-food snack. So I got our favourites.'

'You did indeed,' she agreed as she stared at the table. Though their budget was tight since they were finishing paying off the wedding, he'd ordered Pookaloo's takeout for them - chicken Cesar salad wraps, salt and pepper bread, mozzarella sticks, and sweet potato fries with roasted garlic mayo. 'Oh, Adam, this looks so good. You're so good to me.'

'You're good right back to me, Linds.'

'It seems a little lopsided right now.'

'Really? Who's the one who has been taking care of all the little details of the wedding, making sure while I'm working all those little special things happen, like a limo to take us to the airport on Wednesday? And making sure we had that little passport printed up for Jojo's caterpillar?'

Lindsay's cheeks pinked. 'Well, she just seemed very worried about her little buddy.'

'And who is the softie that made sure that the other little kids taking a stuffed animal on the plane had one too?'

'Okay, you got me.'

Adam laughed again, headed to the cupboard for glasses when his cellphone rang. He fished it from his pocket and groaned when he saw it was the Castle home number. 'If this is about the case, I'm gonna kill her. I don't care if she is my superior officer. Hello?'

'Hey Adam, it's Rick.'

'Oh, hey man, how's it going? Thanks again for the weekend, it was great.'

'Good, good, just a question. Is Lindsay up and around?'

'Yeah,' Adam said at length, 'why do you ask?'

'Because I came home to a zombie of a wife and was curious if yours was in worse shape, being the guest of honour and all.'

'We're just about to eat. Try tempting Kate with some food.'

'Maybe.' Castle sounded thoughtful. 'Alright, thanks buddy. See you Wednesday.'

'Bye.' Adam hung up, pretended to give Lindsay the eagle eye. 'Lindsay, my toasty little crumpet.'

'Yes, Adam, my roasted red pepper jelly,' she replied just as coyly as she filled up her plate.

'What did you girls get up to this weekend?'

'What did you boys get up to this weekend?'

He waited a beat. 'Alright, fair enough. You gonna take all those mozza sticks?'

* * *

The next morning, as Adam expected Lindsay was still sleeping like the dead when he woke for work and got himself ready for the day. He scribbled a quick note to her that he'd tried to be on time for dinner that night since they had to finalize the last details of the dinner speeches and music for the reception on Friday, and headed out to meet Beckett.

He'd just left the building when he saw Beckett's Crown Vic roll to the curb, the driver wearing sunglasses despite the fact it was just after seven am.

'Good morning, Detective Beckett,' he said in a chipper tone, knowing full well the timbre of his voice would probably earn him a punch in the crotch if she was feeling particularly mean. 'How was the sendoff into married life for Lindsay?'

'Shh-shhh-shh, Adam,' Beckett replied, flapping her hand at him. 'I am fueled by Motrin and coffee and a lot of Gatorade right now. We're stopping at Love on a Bun before we go to the precinct.'

'That's over in Grammercy Park,' he pointed out, 'totally opposite side of the island from where we're going.'

'Adam, we're going to Love on a Bun.'

'Yes ma'am.'

Adam remembered his mother using a similar tone when she meant business, so he closed his mouth as they drove quietly to the bakery to get a box of strawberry blintzes and another of assorted sweet buns and rolls. Without a word, once they were back in the car Beckett simply held out her hand and Adam lifted the lid on the assorted box. He kept the laugh to himself when he saw her grab a cinnamon swirlie-roll and cram it in without any kind of lady-like manners or grace. She munched away whiel Adam selected a blueberry Danish for himself; it was only when she was stuffing down the final bites and licking her fingers that Beckett's powers of speech returned.

'The sendoff, as you can probably tell,' she finally replied, 'was a fantastic time. Now we have to put it aside and figure out why that little bastard Nicky Tomasi would want to poison his teacher.'


	37. Snapshot of a Suspect

'Whoa, whoa, what?'

'Nicky Tomasi,' Beckett said to him as they parked in the precinct garage, took the two boxes upstairs to the Homicide bullpen. 'I think you're right on the money about him, we need to dig deeper on him.'

'What brought on this sudden epiphany? You still drunk from the weekend or what?'

'No epiphany, just putting it together logically. I've dealt with child killers before, have you?'

'Not where the child _is_ the killer, no.' Adam shook his head.

'They are just as dangerous, sometimes moreso, than an adult.'

'Why more?'

Beckett waited until the elevator doors opened on their bullpen and she gave Adam a little look. 'To a child, even a teenager, the world is very crystal clear. Things are either right or wrong, black or white, that's it. Even if they don't necessarily process it that way, that is how they see them. That also means that if we're dealing with someone who thinks the only response to a problem is murder, we are dealing with a budding sociopath. So.'

She set the boxes on her desk, turned her computer on. 'We are going to dig up everything we can on Nicky Tomasi, or rather you are, and I am going to go to Karpowski and convince her that one of her children's classmates is responsible for a cold-blooded murder.'

'Alrighty then.'

Adam went for the heavy duty sugar and popped the top on the box of strawberry blintzes, sat down with one at his desk whiel he reviewed the fiel and waited for his computer to boot. The moment it was up and running, he set about doing what he did best - scouring the cyber-world for any details related to the victim. In this day and age, it was impossible not to have any kind of digital trai; hell there were people who created entire websites dedicated to tracking their pregnancies.

He clicked and scanned, copied pasted and printed until he had a neat little dossier on Nicholas Cesare Tomasi. Resided in Hell's Kitchen in a three-floor walk-up one-hundred percent owned by his parents. His father was Cesare Tomasi, MD and PhD, head of neurology at George Washington Memorial on the east side of the city and his mother was Lucia Orvino Tomasi, deceased.

This made Adam sit up and frown. The mother was dead, but she wasn't exxactly forgotten - her maiden name had been Orvino, big-time wheels in the city infrastructure. Orvino Engineering was the city's subcontractor for all public works and it was a family owned firm unto the fifth generation. That's what Nicky had meant, he thought. With nimble fingers, he searched the information for Lucia's death and rubbed his mouth in sadness. The boy had been only eleven when his mother had driven her car into a telephone pole on the Long Island Expressway; reports she'd been drinking were dismissed and it was revealed she'd stopped taking the anti-depressents her physician had prescribed after the death of her father Nicholas Giuseppe Orvino.

'Orvino? That's big mafia money right there.'

Adam glanced back over his shoulder, saw Ryan standing there reading his screen. 'What do you mean, mafia money?'

'There was a popular rumour going around the annals of City Hall that the Orvinos were Puzo's inspiration for the Godfather, and that they made some seriously problematic noisemakers disappear for LaGuardia back in the day.' Ryan dragged over a chair, snagged a blintz from the box. 'What's Nicky Orvino got to do with your case?'

'One of the grandsons, also a Nicky, is now the prime suspect in our case.'

'Ooh, careful where you step on that one, boy. Family money and all that.'

'Except that the link, the mother, she died six years ago in a car crash on the LIE, dude.'

'Oh, that you should be fine,' Ryan shrugged. 'Unless you like sleeping with the fishes.'

'Shut up and go away, I've got stuff to do.'

Ryan only laughed and wandered away with his blintz while Adam looked at the screen once more and pondered. He picked up the small little white bear Lindsay called Dunno the Eisbar, for when the answer to a problem he was facing was 'dunno'. It had been the first thing she'd given to him that he'd put on his desk at work; it made Adam frown deeper in thought. How had Nicky's idea that his teacher had to go the hard way come to him? Was it simply born of rage and then his ego goaded him into it? Or was it simply part of his brain detached and devoid of emotion that had triggered such a response.

Or was it the family thing, he wondered further. There was clearly no love lost between Nicky and the pressures he was feeling from home to go into engineering. There had been pressure like that on Lindsay to be a homemaker and baby machine from her father, and her mother had just gone along with it, Adam thought in disgust. She'd gotten away, broken free. Was this Nicky's twisted version of the Great Escape?

Adam spent the next hour pulling it all together, everything he could find on Nicky Tomasi so that when Beckett gave him the subtle 'get your ass over her' signal, he was ready with a small dossier.

'What have you got?'

'Nicholas Cesare Tomasi,' he started, and gave the run-down on their boy. 'The woman we saw at the school and assumed was a parent was actually his aunt, his father's sister, who came to live with them after Nicky's mother died.'

'Tell me more about that accident,' Beckett said quietly, looking over the photographs from the newspaper articles - the Lexus had been completely totaled, the front end a twisted mess of tangled metal and glass.

'The way the police report goes down, Nicky and Lucia were in the car together on a rainy night when the vehicle skidded and she went face-first into that telephone pole. Lucia was killed on impact and...' Adam traield off as he fought to clear his throat. 'And Nicky was in the backseat with a concussion, some bruised ribs, and multiple contusions and lacerations.

'Survivor's guilt is a hard burden to bear, especially on the mother-son relationship like that.'

'Well, it gets worse. There was some noise going around that Lucia aimed for that telephone pole and meant to take out herself and her son so her family couldn't get their hands on him. That's family with a capital F.'

'How do you mean?' Beckett shook her still slightly-throbbing head.

'Lucia's maiden name is Orvino,' Adam explained and he saw her make the connection right away. 'Her pops was Nicholas Orvino, allegedly the man behind the curtain for Fiorello LaGuardia back in the day.'

'That's hearsay a lot of the time, just adds to the legend of LaGuardia, but if she was brought up to believe it and believed that her son was in danger it makes sense. What did the accident investigation reveal?'

'Considering that same night there was three other similar incidents without the same level of catastriophe on the LIE, the accident investigator chalked it up to bad luck and cleared any suspicion from the insurance company. The inheritance went through, and Nicky was in the care of his father and his aunt ever since.'

'Alright. Call Fuqua, tell her you want a warrant for any and all medical records for Nicky Tomasi starting from two years prior to the accident. A decision like that, if that's the decision Lucia made, does not happen overnight, it takes time, planning, patience, and its repercussions on an eleven year old boy would be very far-reaching.'

'You're thinking his brain broke after the accident and this is somehow tied to honouring his mother?'

'Bingo. Fuqua, warrants, now.'

'Yes ma'am.'

Adam headed back to his desk, scowled in the playful way of cops when he saw Esposito hovering by the bakery box. 'You get one,' he told his friend and Esposito glanced up, grinned.

'You shoulda gone to the Salamander, bro. My mami woulda hooked you up no question.'

'Yeah, but this way Body, is that the guy's name?'

'Yeah, Body Mathias he's one of Shane Weaver's best mates.'

'Right, right.' Adam scratched his cheek. 'Well, considering how hungover Beckett was this morning, I doubt she'd have lasted the ride up to the barrio.'

Esposito thought of how wrung out Meredeth was and could only laugh. 'Yeah, alright, you get a pass on that one today bro. But next time...'

'Piss off,' Adam laughed as Esposito snagged a blintz and wandered off to his own desk.


	38. Up the Ante

'It's never easy looking into a child like this.'

Adam nodded as he watched Judge Michelle Fuqua, one of the city's top criminal judges, slip off her four-inch pumps and pad around her office in her stocking-covered feet. It was easy to forget when this formidable woman was on the bench that she barely cleared five feet without her high-heels. Her smooth mocha skin was slightly dewed from the warm air of her office and she patted at her cheeks, brow, beck with a handkerchief that matched the frosted-peach tone of her suit.

'Ma'am, you know Detective Beckett's style, you know she wouldn't send me here with this request if she didn't think we were wrong.'

'I know she wouldn't,' Fuqua replied with a smile. 'I know her style and I know yours too.'

'Mine?'

'You're good with people who have been shocked or traumatized, Detective. You have a gift for putting them at ease, and word around the campfire is that you use that same talent for putting criminals and miscreants on their heels to get them talking so when you hit them hard, they feel like they've been leg-dropped by Randy Savage.' She winked at him as she sat down behind her desk. 'To business. You think your killer is one of the students who was in the room with your Professor Hill, and you want to look at his medical records to see if it was the car accident that killed his mother where he survived that caused a blip in his brain?'

'In a nutshell, Your Honour, yes.'

'Sadly, I wish I could say I was surprised by any part of that. But this job...well, you know as well as anyone Detective, this job seasons and ages us in ways we wish it sometimes doesn't. You'll have your papers by one, Detective.'

'Fair enough, send it through when you're ready. Excuse me.'

Adam stepped away for a moment as his cellphone rang; he swiped the screen to answer the incoming call. 'Brennan.'

'Detective Brennan?'

The voice was a young woman's voice, thick with barely controlled tears. 'Yes, this is Detective Brennan. Who is this?'

'It's Ashley...Ashley Archer. Please, you have to come, I...she...I can't...'

'What happened?'

'Someone poisoned Sarah Ritter in the cafeteria,' Ashley let out on a burst of breath. 'She started having trouble breathing, the same way she says she does when she has traces of peanuts.'

Adam's blood turned to ice. 'Where are you now?'

'I'm at the hospital. I- the paramedics, David and Jayla, they let me ride in the ambulance so she wasn't alone.'

'You're at Saint Vincent's?' At Ashley bleary 'uh-huh', Adam felt a nanogram of relief. 'Go down to the ER visitor entrance, wait for us there.'

'Us?'

'Yes, have you called Detective Beckett yet?'

'N-no, your name starts with an A so it was first in my phone before Kate.'

Adam blew out a breath. 'Call her, tell her where I said to meet you. We'll be there as quickly as we can. Don't talk to anyone, not a single person until you see us, okay?'

'Yes Det-t-tective.'

Adam hung up then turned to Fuqua. 'I need those warrants sooner than one o'clock, Your Honour. I just received word one of the students to discover the body was rushed to the hospital.'

'Go.' Fuqua dismissed him with a wave of the hand. 'I'll push this as hard and fast as I can.'

* * *

'How the hell could we have missed this.'

Beckett pounded her fist on the steering wheel as she zipped down Fifth and cut west on Thirty-Eighth. She'd been in the middle of interviewing one of the teachers who'd stayed home an extra day in their Upper East Side condo when she'd received Adam's call; without a second thought she ended the interview and flew to meet him at Fuqua's chambers.

It would have been quicker, probably, she knew, to go to the hospital first, but she knew that the doctors would need the time and space to give Sarah the best fighting chance she could have so Beckett had given them that room by also adding to her own front. Having two cops present a united front to the parents - Dean and Georgie Adam had said their names were - would give them some sense of security that something was being done toute-de-fucking-suite.

They screamed to a stop in the emergency parking lot, sprinted to the ER visitor entrance where they saw Ashley, no longer the cool, in-control lady of the house she'd been with getting the starchy majordomo to step off but the little girl they'd seen breakdown over lemonade and cookies. She was still in her school uniform kilt and blouse, and her face was tear-ravaged as she propped herself against the stone wall with a blank stare out at the world. Beckett approached her first, used the tactics of a mother, not of a cop.

'Ashley, it's Kate,' she called out first, hoping to get the girl's attention. Ashley's eyes focused, and she launched herself off the wall straight into the detective's arms as she wept like a toddler. 'Shh, shh, it'll be fine, girl, you'll see.'

'She wasn't breathing, and...her face...God, her face was turning p-purple...' Ashley all but wailed it as the shock and terror and fear came pouring out of her. 'On the weekend she...her parents said I could stay with them as long as I needed to, until things at home settled down. When I couldn't sleep, when I just cried and cried, Sarah...she made me tea and put pretzel M&M's on my ice cream and made a second bowl for herself just because she knows I don't like to eat alone.'

'She sounds like a good friend.'

'She's my best friend, my sister really.' Ashley sniffled heroically and sighed, eased back from Beckett. She gripped the edge of her uniform sweater with her sleeve, used it to swipe at her eyes as she tried to pull it together. 'Detective Beckett, I know I'm not legally related to her, but I was right there. I called the paramedics on my cellphone when she started coughing like that. Can I-'

'We'll keep you posted, though I doubt Dean and Georgie will keep you out of the loop.'

'Ashley.' Now Adam stepped forward, knowing she was ready for this part. 'The three of us will go inside and wait for word on Sarah. Beckett will talk to Sarah's parents, and you'll tell me start to finish what happened. Can you do that?'

'Yes, I can.' Despite the numb shock in her voice, there was steel in her eyes now. 'It's the least I can do. I need to get her flowers, and a book, and maybe some tea. Sarah loves tea and a good book when she is sick. Maybe she'd like me to read it to her?'

'That sounds lovely.'

The trio walked inside, where Adam and Ashley split off towards a private corner of the busy ER and as luck would have it Beckett spotted Dave and Jayla at the intake nurse's deck. Both were in uniform, Jayla with sunglasses perched on her chocolate brown hair, going over the details of a report. She marched to the desk and tapped her badge against the glass. 'Excuse me nurse, I need a few minutes with these paramedics.'

'Of course Detective.'

The nurse stepped one way, letting Dave and Jayla come around the counter. 'We have to stop meeting like this, Kate,' Dave teased his friend with a slight bit of weariness in his voice; Beckett made a mental note to text Lanie and tell her friend that her hubby would need something extra special tonight. She knew it right away from seeing him because she'd seen that look on her husband's face more than once when he'd been on the job with her.

'Tell me what you can.'

'It happened very fast, as things do in situations like that,' Jayla piped up in her Minnie-Mouse-from-Tehran voice. 'We attended to the young lady while the other one speaking to the other detective-' she pointed to Ashley '-tried to keep the crowd back.'

'Did she mention anyone by the name Nicky Tomasi, or Nicky Tee?'

'Yeah, she did,' Dave replied. 'She was hollering at him to stay back and asked him what he gave Sarah.'

Beckett gave him the frosty eye. 'You're sure?'

'Yeah, I'm sure Detective. She was standing less than a foot from me and she screamed at him, what the fuck was in that drink.'


	39. Waiting and Praying

'Is there anyone on the scene, protecting any evidence?'

'We called for uniforms, the dispatcher said someone named Watkins from the Twelfth would be there in five and she would have back-up eight after that,' Jayla said. 'To my knowledge, they're there waiting for you to talk to them.'

Beckett shook her head, looked at the desk nurse who had returned. 'Nurse where is Sarah Ritter being treated? Who is her attending physician?'

'The attending is Cannell, and she is right across the hallway in Trauma Room Two.'

'Thank you.'

Without a second thought, Beckett dialed Watkins up, told her to get to the school and preserve the scene as best as she could. The moment she hung up, she burst into the trauma room and paled only a moment when she saw the girl she'd interviewed not even a week before. She was lying on the gurney wit ha tube down her throat, shock-paddle contacts against her chest while her face remained a ghastly shade somehwere between fuchsia and puce. She waited until the woman clearly in charge of the room glanced up, caught her eye.

'This is no place for non-medical personnel, get the fuck out of here,' she barked, then softened slightly when Beckett held up her badge. 'You're investigating the case?'

'In a manner of speaking. I need the contents of her stomach, whatever you pumped out of her.'

'Castro, get the detective what she needs,' Cannell ordered one of the people on her team. 'Detective, wait outside, I'll have one of my people speak to you directly after the family.'

'One other thing, Doctor.'

'What?'

'The patient's best friend, Ashley Archer, she made the nine-one-one call. She's been staying with the Ritters almost a week, and they are virtually the only family she has.'

'We'll keep her up to date was well.'

Satisfied with this, Beckett stepped out and headed back to the waiting room where she found Adam and Ashley, zeroed in.

'I have no medical news to report,' she told them, anticipating their question, 'but Cannell said she'll keep you in the loop, Ashley. Adam, I need a word in private a moment.'

'I'll be right back, Ashley,' Adam reassured the shaken young lady and they used the privacy of the crowd to mask their words. 'What's going on?'

'I need you to go to the school. Watkins is there on scene with some other uniforms.'

'Kate are you sure? I have a good rapport with Ashley.'

'I need you there,' Beckett insisted and Adam nodded.

'Alright.'

He walked back over to the spot where Ashley sat ramrod straight in her chair and staring out the window. 'Ashley, Detective Beckett needs me to go to the school to collect any evidence from the attack on your friend.'

'Of course. You're staying right Beckett?'

'Yes, Ashley,' Beckett reassured her and Ashley's eyes filled up, spilled over once more. She'd seen the same thing happen with Jojo when she got overtired, and it struck her suddenly how maternal she felt towards this girl. She pulled her close, wrapping an arm around her shoulders; some woudl bash her for the contact and say she was blurring the lines of professionalism, but the hell with them, Beckett wasn't a robot. 'Yes, I'm staying, I need to talk to Sarah's parents and her doctors once things settle down a little more.'

'Her parents are over here.'

Ashley stood up and walked down the hallway a little towards the same waiting lounge Beckett had used more than once. On the single small sofa were Dean and Georgette Ritter, both looking numb and trying very hard not to break down.

'Dean? Georgie?'

Ashley said their names softly, and both looked up in tandem; Georgette was in her feet in an instant and getting right in Beckett's face. But rather than the onslaught of berating she'd anticipate, the woman all but collapsed in her arms.

'You find who did this to my _bebe_,' she wept bitterly, 'you find who hurt her, hurt all of us who love her and need her here with us.'

'We have a suspect, and Detective Brennan has gone to the school with my top uniformed officers. I am here to speak with you, Sarah's doctors, and Sarah herself when she is able to talk to me.'

'She is strong,' Georgie said firmly, 'but she'll need rest, she'll need quiet. Ashley, my dove, here.'

Beckett watched in fascination as Georgette went to the couch and pulled out her debit card from her stylish Chanel pocketbook. 'Go to the stores she likes, get her favourite book, her tea. Oh, she will need her Stuffibar from home as well. And something to eat for us all so you don't go crazy with worry.'

'Sure, Georgie.'

'Ashley.' Georgette put a hand to the girl's cheek. 'I know you. You work best when you have things to do, people to care for. This is me giving you those things, not pushing you out.'

'I know.'

The woman pulled her daughter's friend in for a kiss on each cheek, then thought better of it. 'I could use some fresh air myself. I will walk you to the subway.'

They left and Beckett looked at Dean, who finally let the tears come. 'They love Sarah so much,' he said in a hoarse voice. 'Sarah's mother died when Sarah was four of cancer, and Sarah just adored Georgie from square one. Georgie, she can't have kids of her own so they fill those holes in each other's lives and they came to love each other out of it. I love my wife but every day I see Sarah and can't help thinking of Colette and...if I lost that last little bit of her, if I lost Sarah-'

'Don't think like that,' Beckett ordered him gently. 'Sarah needs you to be strong, so do Ashley and Georgie. All of you need each other.'

'I know, I know.'

'Why don't you tell me about Ashley's phone call, go from there.'

'I was at work, I'm an attorney for the New York office of Whalen-Wyatt. My assistant said Ashley was on the phone and nearly hysterical so I patched through the call and...and then things get a little fuzzy after hearing her say the paramedics were coming for Sarah because she was having a reaction.' Dean sighed, rose. 'I think I called Georgie, or my assistant did and I got a car to bring e here right away. We met the ambulance and my...my little girl was nearly purple in the face but I heard the paramedics say she was unconscious but breathing. Then Georgie and Ashley got here and it goes blurry again until you were here.'

He turned back to Beckett. 'My daughter's a good girl, she's an honours student and volunteers with Ashely at the shelter, she tutors the younger students in French and German. She's not a priss but she's not a wild child either. Who would do this to her?'

'Someone with a big secret to keep,' Beckett replied quietly. 'Like you said, Sarah's smart and I'm betting when she wakes up and talks to us, she'll say that the person she thinks poisoned Wayne Hill is the same person who poisoned her because she figured out who it was that did it.'

'That's-'

'Cold and disturbing, I know, but sir, you should also know that Detective Brennan and I believe we know who did it too.' She paused, rose to face him as an equal. 'I have three children myself, one whom I met similar to Georgie and Sarah, and she's mine as much as the ones from my body. I would do anything to keep her safe if she was sick or scared or in pain like I know Sarah must have been but I know she would also want to catch the rat bastard that made her sick and scared and in pain and strangle him with her bare hands.'

'I like the sound of her,' Dean said on a gruff chuckle.

'That's why I know as much you want Sarah to rest and sleep it off once the doctors are finished treating her in the here and now you'll support her when she says she wants to talk to me as a cop, because I see so much of my husband and my daughter in you and Sarah.'

Dean opened his mouth to reply when Cannell stepped in, tugged off her scrub cap. 'She's stable and she'll need rest but you can see her in an hour or two.'


	40. Second Victim Speaks

The two hour window gave Beckett a window to line up everything she needed to on her side of things before factoring in that particular human element. The first thing she did was give the Ritter family their privacy and headed outside the hospital to clear her head, focus her thoughts. Then she started the phone calls.

The first one was to her captain, to update Karpowski on everything that had transpired that morning. She could tell Karpowski was mega-pissed but kept it together in a truly admirable way; she couldn't blame the woman either. Hadn't Beckett been slightly left of centre after the classroom crime-scene until she'd gotten home to see her son? Nonetheless, Karpowski told Beckett to get back on the horn to Fuqua and get the warrants sorted out since they now had the push of a second person poisoned at the school inside of a week. Beckett had no doubt a woman as sensible as Michelle Fuqua would give them a green light without waiting for the ADA signature.

The second one was to the formidable Judge Fuqua, who to Beckett's great relief had told her the warrant had already been shot digitally to Adam and he could use one of the spiffy new tablets for that specific purpose if he so desired since it had the judge's digital signature.

The third one was to Shane at the morgue, to inform him that she would have a second stomach contents sample coming in and she needed it tested for any similarities, if not total identical match, to the peanut oil found in Wayne Hill's system. Luck was a little bit on her side when he told her Micah would be in, albeit not until later that afternoon at three for the swing shift. Hopefully she would have more to take to him after they paid the Tomasi residence a visit with the warrants she knew Adam had scored.

The fourth and final one was to home - Beckett needed the breather of hearing her daughter's voice and asking her Bib would need a hat or if sunglasses were okay. As Jojo explained that she and Castle had taken a trip to the Build-A-Bear store to get her precious caterpillar and RJ's beloved Omeo their travel wardrobe, Beckett could only smile. She envied Jojo her imagination, knew that came straight from her daddy to think of putting together a little 'suitcase' for her favourite stuffed animal.

When she'd finally managed to unglue the phone from her ear Beckett was torn whether she should head back to the precinct to rendez-vous with Adam or if she would be better served here waiting for the sample. The decision was apparently taken out of her hands when a nurse in a green scrub top decorate with sailboats came out of the ER visitor doors.

'Excuse me, Detective Beckett?'

'Yes?'

'I was told to come and find you by the Ritters. Sarah is awake, and she and Miss Archer would like to see you.'

Beckett nodded, followed her inside where they took the elevator up to the general care wing of the hospital. It was where Adam had recovered after the showdown at the warehouse with the dirty cops behind her mother's killing, and Beckett felt a strange sense of comfort and familiarity being back. She was directed to room three-three-seven; as predicted, Ashley was sitting beside Sarah's bed, perched on edge like a falcon ready to take wing while Sarah herself laid in bed. She wore an oxygen mask and her face was still splotchy and red yet the eyes were tired but clear of drugs. Those would come later, Beckett figured.

'Detective Beckett.' Sarah's gentle voice was echoing behind the plastic mask and when she tried to lit it off her face to speak, Ashley grabbed at her fingers.

'The hell you're trying that shit, Sarah,' she told her with the sternness of a mother bear protecting her cub. 'I sincerely doubt the detective cares where or not you sound like Darth Vader, so long as you tell the truth. Right?'

'She's right.' To put the patient at ease Beckett pulled up her chair beside Ashley and gave her a smile. 'I once had a guy who was completely mute in the hospital after a firefight, his jaw was temporarily wired shut so his broken nose could heal and he had to communicate with me via notepad and a Sharpie marker.'

'Sounds intense.'

'Well, it was Detective Brennan after he helped round up a cadre of dirty cops.' She heard both girls sigh the way teenage girls did over a boy they thought was cute and laughed a little. 'And since you're feeling better enough to notice my partner is a handsome man, you feel up to answering some questions?'

Sarah nodded, shifted a little in the bed. 'I...It was lunch-time, we were in the cafeteria. Nicky Tee came up to me and Ashley, and he'd brought me a Coke.'

'He do that often?'

'Yes.' Sarah nodded again. 'Once a week. It was part of a joke we had going since ninth grade. I...It's not important, the important part he...he always brought me a Coke, once a week. The day varies sometimes.'

'What did you talk about?'

'How weird it was being back at school, how we're so glad we don't have to go to our math class in the room where Professor Hill died. Nicky made a comment about Ashley's mother, then his phone went off and he went to go take the call.'

'You hadn't touched the Coke?'

'I...no, I don't think so?'

'No, you didn't Sarah,' Ashley reminded her. 'It was after he left because I was teasing you how he should have let that joke die a long time ago-'

'And I said I like that it meant a free drink once a week,' Sarah finished. 'Right it's coming back now. I took a drink after that, and you were...doing something on your phone, Ash.'

'I had my phone out to text our friends Gabe and Ariel for after-school plans, and then Sarah started to cough. We've been best friends since kindergarten, I know that noise and I knew she was in trouble so I dialed nine-one-one right away and got her EpiPen from her purse.'

'It hurt like a bitch but I'm glad you did it.'

The girls held hands and Beckett thought of all the women in her life, wondered if these two would create their own family in the future with their other girlfriends the way she had with her friends. 'Ashley, do you remember seeing Nicky Tee after that?'

'Yeah, he came back when there was a huge crowd that had made a circle around her and they were getting out of the way for the paramedics. I saw him and I'd been able to hold it together pretty well until then, and then something in my brain just went-' Ashley made a squelchy cracking noise. 'I started screaming at him, demanding to know what he'd put in that drink and... Jesus, and then he just gave me this cold little look, it was only there for a moment. But Jesus Christ Almighty, it was like looking at a robot for those three seconds.'

'Excuse us, Detective.'

Beckett glanced over, saw Dean and Georgie there, Dean with a couple of grocery bags in his hands, Georgie with other parcels. 'May we come in?'

'Yeah, I'm done here for now.'

'Wait, that's it?' Sarah's round eyes, their size magnified by the oxygen mask on her face.

'You need to rest and you've given me plenty to work with,' Beckett assured her. 'Get some rest, Sarah. I'll need you tomorrow morning.'

'Okay.'

Beckett stood, stepped back so the girl's parents could lavish their love on their child, and for a moment she studied the four of them, with the blood-ties and love-ties between them. She couldn't help thinking of Carolina Witt and Ashley's rotten luck to be born into that family instead of being part of the one that had taken her in now. Family wasn't always just about biology; Beckett knew that first hand.

She slipped out quietly, headed for the regular visitor's lobby of the hospital; once clear of the doors, she dialed Adam.

'Beckett, we're rolling. The lab said the hospital did their own analysis of the stomach contents they pumped out of Sarah, and they've sent the specs to Micah who is running them as we speak to get comparisons on the poison.'

'Fantastic. Now we're going to go roust out Nicky Tee.'

'I've got my snacks all ready,' Adam started but Beckett knew it was just to keep things light. They both knew this one would be worlds different than lacing into Carolina Witt, and far more painful.


	41. Jackpot

There was none of the acidic joviality there had been the previous week when they'd gone to take a nice juicy chunk out of Carolina Witt's perfect little world. The first time Beckett spoke was when they got out of the car, Adam with the official tablet with the warrant tucked under his arm.

'Let me do the talking this time Adam.'

'Sure.'

They stayed silent once more in the elevator to one of the two-floor penthouses; this time it was Adam who broke the quiet when they approached the front door.

'If he lets us in, you want me to stay here and roust the place with Watkins and another uni?'

'Yes. Sarah Ritter and Ashley Archer need a mother figure. As good a daddy as I'll think you make when the time is right, I've got three kids already. Other parents can sense that.'

'Fair enough. Besides, Watkins listens to me really well and she'll be a little RJ for another uniform.'

'Little RJ?' Beckett repeatedly with a slightly withering stare.

'I see how RJ looks up to Alexis and Shane and how proud he is to know the answers when Jojo asks him a question, or he writes it down and asks someone who does know. I see that when I work with Watkins. She'll be a good detective when she's ready.'

'I agree. Now shut up.'

Beckett pressed the doorbell and to her surprise it wasn't a classic English butler that answered but the man matching the DMV photo she'd pulled of Cesare Tomasi. He was a spare man, his wiry hair once black was now a rich pewter colour that matched his eyes. He wore the at-home casual of the super-rich in a pair of ralph Lauren chinos and Eddie Bauer cashmere sweater in forest green.

'Doctor Tomasi? I'm Detective Beckett, this is Detective Brennan. We have a warrant to search your son's room and the common areas of the premises.'

Adam handed the weary man the tablet, wasn't surprised when he read it and his narrow shoulders slumped in depression. 'I wish I could say I'm surprised, but my son is a troubled boy, he...clearly the help he is getting is not enough. Please, come in, do what you need to do.'

Beckett was a little thrown by Cesare's willingness to let them do everything they needed to, but she didn't decide to question it. She entered with Adam, pulled out gloves from her jacket pockets. 'May we start with his room?'

'Sure. This way.'

Cesare led them upstairs to a room that had it not been coated with posters for rock bands and water sports - water-skiing in particular - it could have been a guest room in a model home. The bed was made with near military precision, no clutter on the desk, not even a dish for loose change and marbles like every normal person did. There was a wall mirror, a calendar on the desk, a desk lamp, but all of it was straight out of a catalogue, there was no personal style.

'Man, if I'd kept my room this neat when I was seventeen, my mother would have thought I was either possessed or body-swapped,' Adam commented.

'Me too.'

'You?'

'Hell yes. I had a busy an active socail life I didn't have time for things like bed-making and putting dirty clothes into a basket.' Beckett gave an affable shrug. 'That changed when I went to university and Mom wasn't in the dorm to tidy up after me. I'll take the desk, you take the bed and table.'

They split up the duties, searching for something - anything - that would help them nail Nicky's sorry little ass to the wall. Beckett eyed up the boy's laptop and sent a text to Harold in the CSU lab that she would be bringing it in for evidence exploration within the hour. She opened the drawers, sifted through papers and books but found nothing like a diary or journal, anything that would point towards planning two homicides, one of which had become an attempted homicide. Such was the digital age, she thought with a sigh. Everyone blogged, tweeted or updated their status to share their innermost thoughts and feelings.

'You got anything yet?' she asked Adam, who shook his head.

'Found your typical teenage boy spank-mags in the drawer of the bedside table, apparently our guy likes them busty and blonde,' Adam commented, holding up the copy of _Babe-alicious Monthly_ for them both to smirk at, 'but so far no peanut oil products.'

'Keep looking, you might find smoething else useful.'

Adam nodded, tucked the boy's porn back into his not-so-secret hiding spot. 'Hey Beckett,' he asked as he flattened himself to his stomach on the floor to search beneath the bed.

'Yeah?' she called back, having wandered into the walk-in closet.

'When this goes to trial, will Nicky be tried as an adult? He's already seventeen and to see him in juvie for a year over a murder and attempted murder seems like a very unfunny joke.'

'That is a good question, Adam, and it's one I don't want to think on right now.' Beckett shoved aside rows of clothes - sweaters and polo shirts, all neatly organized, even the spaces on the closet were labelled. The kid was clearly mentally ill, she thought, then looked at the laundry hamper. She lifted the lid and with a grim smile, called out to Adam once more.

'In here, Detective Brennan.'

'You got something?'

Beckett nodded, waited until he'd joined her in the closet. She lifted the lid on the hamper again and pointed. 'Pay-dirt.'

In the hamper was Nicky's school uniform, and partially wrapped in the pair of pants was a half-used bottle of peanut oil.

'I'll grab the kit from the car,' Adam said quietly, left Beckett so she could talk to Cesare.

She wasn't surprised that he was in the living room reading a medical journal; Cesare Tomasi was one of the country's best-known neurosurgeons. Beckett only knew who he was from listening to Cam George wax poetic from the times he'd had a chance to work with the man. But right now he wasn't a man whose hands and skills were valued into seven figures; he was a father, more specifically he the father of her suspect.

'Doctor,' she said quietly, firmly in her maternal way and Cesare's head lifted. Beckett knew in that look he gave her, sadness mixed with acceptance and resignation, this man would give them whatever help he could. 'We found some things in your son's room that need to be checked into evidence. Do you-'

'Take what you need.' Cesare set aside the medical journal, leaned forward so his elbows rested on his knees as he put his hands to his face, dragged them down. 'Take what you need and get my son the help he needs. He's...he's not well, he hasn't been since his mother died. There was so much chaos, so much blame and many in her family hinted in that awful way family does that it was my little Nicky's fault.'

'I know the feeling,' Beckett replied softly, thinking on Adam and Lindsay. 'Sir, I have to ask you a question. It will become more important once we make an arrest and bring the lawyers into things but I'd like...I need to ask it first myself.'

'Of course Detective.'

'Your son is only seventeen. If the ADA asks to try him as an adult, will you attempt to stop that?'

'No.' Cesare shook his head sadly. 'As I said, I know my son, and I know there is little his therapies and medication are helping with, so perhaps what he needs is to go away for awhile.'

'Do you know why he would want to hurt Professor Hill or Sarah Ritter?'

Now Cesare's face went ashen. 'Sarah? His classmate?'

'Yes, she was taken to the hospital by ambulance this afternoon, after she drank a beverage we believe he'd spiked with peanut oil.'

'Take what you need,' the man said once more. 'I'll call my attorney and put him on hold. The moment Nicky asks for my lawyer, you call me here straight away and I'll have him sent over.'

Beckett nodded, then looked at her incoming text and frowned. 'Adam,' she told her partner when he came back in, 'call in Watkins to help you transport this stuff. I have to head back to the hospital.'

'What happened?'

'Getting Sarah's stomach contents,' she replied, 'so we have more nails to pin Nicky down.'


	42. Pick Up and Delivery

'Welcome to Calliope Thrace, how may I help you?'

The secretary trying to hard to be calm looked at Beckett, who held up their badges and she nodded in recognition. 'Of course, Detectives, Deputy Headmistress Leung is waiting in her office for you.'

In keeping with the tone of the afternoon, Beckett stayed quiet as she was escorted into the principal's office once more. This time, Anna Leung looked even more wrung out; there were several piles of destroyed office supplies on her wide mahogany desk. Amongst the stacks of warped paper clips and shredded post-it notes was a copy of the morning paper with a big splashy headline - _Sex Scandal Rocks Calliope Thrace_. So, the dogs had caught the scent, Beckett thought miserably as she watched Anna speak to yet another parent in strained tones.

'Yes ma'am, I understand. It- no, no, ma'am this was not something anyone on staff was aware of, and- Yes I understand. Very well. And to you.'

Beckett watched the woman huff out a sigh as she replaced the receiver, and justly allowing herself a moment of pure indulgence, the cool and composed Anna pick the receiver back up and smash it a few times against the cradle before clamping her hands on the sides of her head and letting out a low snarl.

'Professor Leung?'

Anna's head lifted sharply and for a moment, Beckett saw the rawness in her eyes - the sick panic, the grief, the impotent frustration of someone just trying to do their best and being told at every turn it wasn't enough. Beckett made the on-the-spot decision to give her a little latitude lest the woman completely snap.

'Hello Detective.'

'Let me guess, dealing with irate parents?'

Anna shook her head slowly, tried to fight off the fresh edges of the migraine floating in her mind. 'They are all wanting to know why I re-opened the school so soon if I knew it wasn't safe yet.'

'That's very unfair.'

'That's parents with money.' Anna lifted her shoulders, let them slump. 'Either I try to placate them and give them a solid target for their rage, however misdirected it is, or they take their tuition money to Washington Irving or Marlowe Prep along with their alumni donations.'

'A hard line to walk.'

'Yes it is. Anyways.' She lifted a hand, trying to brush off the issue for the moment to give Beckett her undivided attention. 'I hope you're here with good news.'

'Good and bad.'

'Let me guess, you're here to inform me you're going to make an official arrest and the bad news is that it's one of my students.'

So much for latitude, Beckett thought grimly and had to nod. 'Unfortunately yes. I need you to bring Nicholas Tomasi down here. I need to take him to the precinct for an official interview.'

'Oh, Nicky.' Anna closed her eyes, pressed her fingertips to her brow. 'We've tried so hard to reach him, so hard to get him involved and keep him adjusted.'

'When we talked to him after Professor Hill's body was found, he didn't seem like someone with the problems we've since discovered he has.'

'School is his safe haven.' Needing to move, to be active somehow, Anna stood up, moved from her desk to her modest window. 'He developed severe OCD after his mother's death and school gave him the structure he desperately craved. His father said when there were PD days, they were hell on Nicky because he would always be thinking about what he'd be doing at that time at school.'

'How was he with other students?'

'He was heavily involved in science fairs, presentations to visiting schools and parents. He was very good at chemistry in particular and I believe he would have made a fortune for some Forbes pharmaceutical company.'

'How did he work with them?' Beckett clarified.

'Very well, actually. He liked the structure of science, that he always had a task to do. He was even starting to organize some students into being science mentors because it gave him authority and he likes that, likes the feeling of control over his own space since his mother's family have tried to take it away from him and his father.'

Anna returned to her desk, looked at a list on her ledger and keyed an extension into the phone; she spoke briefly and calmly. 'Hello McKayla, it's Anna. You have Nicky Tomasi in class? Can you send him to my office for a moment please? Thank you.'

'It's never easy, Anna, no matter who the criminal turns out to be,' Beckett reassured her.

'Are there any that made you feel completely incompetent, that everything you've worked for your whole career suddenly turned into a joke?'

'One or two. Then my husband pokes at me until I see the bigger picture, that there are so many people I've helped and given closure to after such horrible shock.' Beckett shifted forward in her chair. 'I'm sure there are plenty of parents who were home this weekend saying they were thankful you were here in charge and able to keep everyone as calm as possible during such a crisis.'

'That's why you're a top cop.'

There was a rap on the door, and it was opened by one of the many secretaries; she was followed by a hollowed-out looking Nicky. He looked painfully young, Beckett thought, the sad little boy so lost and confused with so much hurt and pain in his eyes. His illness was no excuse, though, for what he'd done.

'Nicky,' Anna started softly, but Nicky shook his head.

'I know why she's here. She wants to talk to me about Sarah, right?'

'And Professor Hill,' Beckett added, rising from her chair. 'It has to be at the precinct, Nicky. On record.'

'I want a lawyer. My dad knows a good one.'

'You can have your lawyer,' she agreed smoothly, just like she was trying to tell RJ he could stay up past his bedtime, 'and if you like he can meet us there.'

'Please.'

Beckett nodded, dialed Cesare at home and kept her end of the bargain she'd made with her probable killer's father. 'Your lawyer will be at the precinct waiting for us, Nicky. Will you come quietly with me to my vehicle or do I need to put you in handcuffs?'

'No.' Nicky shook his head firmly. 'No, I'll be fine without them. I'm not a violent person.'

On that point, Beckett believed he thought he was one hundred percent right - Nicky would not see what he'd done to Wayne Hill or Sarah Ritter as acts of violence but as the means to an end. He had a problem and wanted to be rid of it. Case closed, as far as a sociopath with severe OCD was concerned. Still, she kept a calm and placid look on her face as she stepped up beside him and escorted him out of the school to the Crown Vic where he amicably slipped into the back seat.

'May I ask you something, Detective?' Nicky said as he looked out the window.

'Depends what the something is, Nicky.'

'I know you're married to Rick Castle, the writer, and you inspired him to write the Nikki Heat series.'

'Yes.'

'Does it ever get to be too much, the pressure to live up to the perfect Nikki Heat image?'

'No,' Beckett replied honestly, 'because Nikki Heat is as flawed as I am, in some ways more than me, and trying to live up to an impossible standard does no one any good.'

She thought of Andrea and her sisters, of Andrea and Daniel, and how they'd all been there for Andrea when she'd been single out by fashion critics after the Vanity Fair party they all got to attend for the _Real Live Women_ exhibit. 'If you set goals for yourself and you reach them, surpass them, that's the part that counts the most because you go to bed with yourself at night and no one else. Now it's my turn for a question.'

'Go ahead.'

'Who are you living for, Nicky?'

'I'm not sure I follow you.'

'Who are you living for, Nicky,' she repeated. 'Who in your life makes you feel the only way to solve a problem is to get rid of the problem by whatever means necessary?'

'Hang on to that question, Detective. I'll answer it with my lawyer present.'

He didn't say another word until Beckett parked at the Twelfth Precinct.


	43. One Cold SOB

When Beckett arrived back at the precinct, she wasn't surprised to find Adam at his desk with Watkins, pouring through pages.

'What's all that?' she asked, jutting her chin at the printouts.

'Nicky's journal. He wrote, a lot, about how annoyed he was by petty people at school, how the professors that marked him down were walking dangerous lines, that he was supposed to be number one because his mother wouldn't want it any other way.'

'That was fast,' Beckett commented, and Adam shook his head.

'Nicky had the file open on his laptop so when we ran it through CSU, they had this to us within the half-hour. Where's Nicky now?' Adam asked.

'Booking. Julian's going to bring him up when he's ready for the interview. His lawyer met us down there.'

'That was fast,' Adam said back to her; it was Beckett's turn to shake her head.

'Nicky's father had him on standby to meet us here.'

'Sadly enough, there's not much a lawyer's going to be able to for Nicky aside from make a good case for his illness being reason for him to get help, not be put in general populace.' Adam sifted beneath the journal pages to find another file folder. 'Doctor's files, specifically Nicky's shrink. He was diagnosed with multiple issues after the car accident and his shrink cut back his medication after showing signs of improvement.'

'Wait until Ian Link gets him on the stand,' Beckett murmured. 'I feel sorry for the poor bastard already.'

'Our interview record shows he's gone off the deep end,' Adam went on, then grimaced when Beckett shook her head a second time. 'Oh, come on, Kate! I knew it was him right from the start!'

'I know.' It made Beckett's gut churn acid as she remembered the paleness of Sarah Ritter's face, a small part of her blaming herself that she hadn't listened to her younger, and okay greener, detective.'That's why I need to do this, and more you're not a parent.'

'Kate-'

'He lost his mother suddenly. I'm a mother who also lost her own suddenly. If he sees that gentle maternal side instead of someone gloating, he will open up more.'

'I wouldn't gloat in front of a suspect!' Adam retorted with such vehemance that Watkins shot up out of her chair and mumbled about going to call her fiance. 'Kate, how disrespectful do you think I'd be? You think I want this kid to fry? He's sick, just like I was when i was drinking half a mickey of vodka a day.'

'I don't think anything like that Adam, I'm simply telling you that a boy who lost his mother suddenly would open up to a maternal authority figure when under duress.'

'Are you forgetting the reason I had a drinking problem was because I lost my mother suddenly too?'

'No, I'm not, but your emotions on this one are much more complex than mine are, and that's not a bad thing, it's just the way it is.' Beckett wanted so badly to give him this interview, but that passion and pain she heard in his voice was exactly the reason she knew she had to take it for herself as a solo. 'Adam, everyone knows your interview skills are top notch, but I'm telling you as your superior officer you need to sit this one out and watch from Observation.'

A muscle twitched in Adam's jaw; he got out a very stiff 'Fine' through clenched teeth. Papers gathered up for her to take into the box, he followed her over; they separated at the door.

The first thing Beckett saw when she went into the interview room was that she recognized the lawyer that sat with Nicky, he was one of the people in the single photo that Nicky had on his bureau in his room. A family connection, most definitely, yet not one from the mother's side; couldn't be from the way that he huddled close together with the boy.

'Detective Kate Beckett in interview with Nicholas Tomasi and his representative.'

'Joachim Ludovico,' he said with the faintest of accents.

'Mister Tomasi, have you been informed of your rights?' Beckett asked him, and Nicky nodded.

'You informed me of them once we were outside the school. I'm aware of what I need to do.'

'Very well.' She sat down, opened her files; before she could say another word, Joachim jumped in and spoke for his client.

'Miss Beckett, I'm not just a lawyer I'm also Nicky's uncle, married to his father's sister so I am quite familiar with the...illness and instability my client has had in the past several years. I've advised him to give you a full and detailed account as to what has transpired rather than you questioning him.'

'And your client agreed to this?'

'Nicky?' was all the lawyer said and Nicky nodded his agreement.

'He said it's the best thing to do, so that the judges can see I'm mentally defective and get treatment while I'm in jail.'

'Are you so certain you'll go to prison?' Beckett asked and Nicky gave a shrug so casual and calm that it made her skin crawl.

'I killed my professor and hurt my friend, I would say I'm going to jail.'

'Okay, Nicky,' Joachim interjected calmly. 'Tell it from the top, like we talked about.'

'Right.' Nicky took a deep breath, straightened up and began to speak like he was reciting a monologue for a theatre audition. 'My mother's family, their name is well known and it has a lot of money behind it. Not prestige, exactly, but notoriety sure. Not the gangland ties everyone thinks they have, but they have that kind of influence without the violence.'

Money talks, Beckett thought, sometimes better than a gun. 'You were pressured from them?'

'She was. My father's family, they're from Hell's Kitchen, which in my grandfather's and uncles' eyes was considered a bastardization of our grand Italian heritage. Little Italy is so much 'better'-' Nicky made air quotes with his fingers '-whatever that means. Bottom line, they hated that she married my father and were always trying to find ways to get them apart. They thought they got that when she...after the accident.'

'They tried to take you from your father?' Beckett asked, genuinely interested in the answer.

'In their way, they tried to explain that he'd be better off with them in Hell's Kitchen or Long Island and that there was no getting around that. My father basically told them to fuck off. This was all at the funeral when I'm crying my eyes out, wanting my mama.'

Though she knew this boy was truly no boy, Beckett still felt her heart break for the mourning child as Nicky continued, 'They blamed me, and I had no one in my life to tell me otherwise, so I believed that I was responsible for her death.'

'When did you start seeing your therapist?'

'Two years later, after I had a bit of a snap, I guess you'd call it. I couldn't handle what was going on in my brain. I'm less medicated now, and that clears the mind, controls the temper,' Nicky added with a touch of wistfulness, as though he missed being out of control.

'You seem like you've been doing so well, Nicky,' Beckett commented as she picked up one of his files she'd received from Anna Leung. 'You're focused, driven, involved at school. Why did you want to hurt Professor Hill and Sarah?'

'Sarah, that was just an accident, I didn't want to hurt her just scare her off nosing around.'

'Explain.'

'I had some people over on Saturday night, you know, trying to keep things normal and Sarah wandered off to find the bathroom,' he recounted, 'and she went into my room to use my ensuite and found the peanut oil.'

'You'd already kept it in your room?'

'Part of a chemistry project I was already working on.' Nicky shrugged. 'She didn't think I saw her put it together but I saw it. My mother always said I was very observant. So she needed to be taken care of.'

'And Professor Hill?' Beckett ventured, sincerely frightened to hear his response. Her blood went cold when she saw him shrug again.

'He wouldn't let me into his class. I had to fix it.'

'All this because you weren't permitted into his AP math class? You killed a man over something that trivial?'

Nicky just blinked. 'It was a problem, I fixed it.'


	44. Comedown

'Thanks Julian.'

Beckett watched the receiving officer take Nicky by the bicep and lead him towards the elevator to send him back downstairs to Booking; she still felt hairs on her neck rising from the way he'd been so calm and cool. All she felt like she could do now was pray the jury would make the right decision. The kid needed help, no question, so perhaps going away for a long time wasn't such a bad thing.

'Jesus I need a drink. Never thought I'd say that again.'

She turned to Adam; he'd come up behind her and she'd known he was there but hadn't said anything yet, just let the silence do the talking.

'Adam, I'm sorry.'

'For what?'

'For brushing you off as I did.'

At this, Adam quirked an eyebrow. 'You didn't brush me off, Kate, you did the job, just as I would have if Watkins were my subordinate. Plus we also sussed out a dangerous woman who has virtually no moral principles.'

'And left a daughter without a mother.'

'Sometimes that's not a bad thing, depending on the parent. Look at Alexis. She's not from your genes but she's yours, right?'

'Every inch of her is my child.' Beckett thought of the way Sarah Ritter's step-mother had simply taken along Ashley with her when they had to get thigns to look after Sarah. 'I wonder if Ashley Archer is going to be legally emancipated, invited to live with her friends.'

'Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world,' Adam concurred, 'especially if she and Sarah are going to university together.'

'They probably will, and if they don't I have a feeling they'll be like Alexis and Sloan.'

Sighing, Beckett went to her desk and looked at the paperwork and actually said, 'Fuck it. This can all wait until tomorrow. I'm going home to my family.'

'As am I,' Adam agreed. 'See you in the morning. Oh, hey Beckett?'

'Yeah?'

'Ashley left me a voicemail. She said she called Alexis and she's going to have an appointment with her next week.'

Beckett smiled, felt the weight in her heart lift a little. 'Well that's something, at least.'

* * *

'Okay, Jojo, we're all set! You have your books, your crayons and paper, everything is ready to go.'

'Wha' 'bout my Joo-Lee Bugs?'

'I have the game packed with my Nintendo DS, bumblebee,' RJ assured his sister, looked over at his father as they helped Jojo get her carryon ready for the plane trip. 'I can use that on a plane, right?'

'Of course you can as soon as the captain says we are allowed to use our electronic devices.'

'Yea! Joo-Lee Bugs fun.' Jojo looked around, pouted. 'Daddy, when Mumum home?'

'She'll be home later, sweetheart, she had a busy day today at work.' Castle remembered the text he'd gotten from her after Nicky had been brought into the precinct, how his gut had clenched when he read her note telling him not to wait dinner since this kid was seriously messed up and would probably use his lawyer to draw it out and get off on his own overinflated ego. 'And we're going to show her that we are all ready to go for Wednesday, right?'

'Right, Daddy,' RJ replied with a serious nod.

'Si-si-si, and Bib and Omeo too,' Jojo agreed, then went still when she heard the front door open, her mother's voice calling out for her family. 'Daddy! Ah-Shay! That Mumum, she home now!'

'Whoa, whoa, just wait little sister!'

RJ scrambled to his feet as his sister took off for the stairs; he breathed a sigh of relief when Jojo waited for him at the top of the stairs. She took his hand in her smaller one and they went downstairs together to find Beckett taking her shoes off by the door, putting her bag down beside them. Her head lifted up and RJ could see she didn't have her sad eyes on today but her tired ones. He knew exactly what tactic to take with his mumum for that one.

'Mumum!' Jojo, being Jojo, was there first and giving her big hugs; she rocked back and forth, then put her little hands on Beckett's cheeks to turn her face back and forth. 'You look suh-leepy, Mumum. You suh-nacky, you nee' suppah?'

'Absolutely, and a nice cold drink.'

'Milk, Jojo, Mumum needs a nice cold glass of milk,' RJ decided and when he got his turn to give her a hug, like his sister he put his hands on her cheeks to look her in the eye. 'You aren't sad today, Mumum, you are tired. Did you have a long interview with the bad guy?'

'I did, and it made me a little sad to see what kind of bad guy he was.'

'He a meanie?' Jojo asked sweetly, and Beckett wanted to weep at her baby girl's innocence.

'No, sweetie, he was very very sick in his heart and his head.'

'He nee' talk-a 'Lexis,' she decided, 'she help pee-pills wit' sad hearts.'

'I love you, Jojo,' Beckett laughed; oh to be three and a half again and have all the answers be so simple in life. 'You too RJ.'

'We love you back, Mama,' RJ said, kissing her cheek, then looking over his shoulder as Beckett rose from her crouch to see Castle there behind their children. 'Daddy, Mumum needs her supper.'

'It time fo' fam-ah-lee suppah?' Jojo asked, which had Castle winking.

'You know it sweetie.'

'Wit Shane and 'Lexis too?'

'They're having dinner with Sloan and Jeremy and the boys tonight,' Castle replied and Jojo shook her head.

'Then it not all us fam-ah-lee, it ah-mos' piff-eck.'

Beckett laughed, gave RJ a little loving swat on his tush. 'Go wash your hands, you two and we'll make something together. I needed to be here as soon as I could tonight,' she told her husband, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head against his shoulder. 'God, it was awful Rick, this kid, the killer, he was such a nice kid but there was nothing in here.'

She leaned back, tapped between her breasts with her fingertip. 'Whatever there might have been in here, it's gone from him. He...he just isn't there, he's a shell and it is so sad, Rick. I just...I had to be here, not there.'

'I know what those ones are like for you,' Castle murmured softly, and kissed her gently. 'What you need is a good meal, time with your children and then time for you and me.'

'Sounds perfect.'

* * *

While Beckett prepared for a family night, over on Waverly Place Adam combed his fingers through his hair as he shut off the water from the shower. Lindsay wouldn't be home for another hour, and as much as Adam appreciated having the space to simply go home and have a nap for an hour in total solitude he didn't like the feeling of coming home to the empty space. He liked coming home to Lindsay, though not in the nineteen-fifties housewife kind of way. Even if she had played dress-up for him one night and donned French maid costume for him, he chuckled.

After finding a pair of sleep pants and a loose-fitting t-shirt Adam decided he would role reverse and having dinner ready for her instead after she finished saving lives in the Saint Vincent ER with Doctor Cannell. He went to the fridge and was perusing his options when he heard the keys in the door; it opened and he smiled when he saw Lindsay coming in. She looked about as wiped out as he felt, but there was a sweet brightness in her voice that told him tonight wouldn't be for pouting.

'Hello my cute little couscous.'

'Hello taco-butt.'

Adam laughed, straightened up to kiss her, letting his lips linger on hers. She must have sensed his melancholy because she put her hand to his cheek.

'You wrapped the case,' she commented, and Adam nodded.

'We did, and all I can say is I'm glad my drinking days are long over because a day like today, the interview with our killer, it was just so draining.'

'I know the feeling. You want me to make you dinner?'

'No.' On this point Adam was totally immovable. 'I need to do something with my hands.'

'Then I'll sit down and tell you about my day.'


	45. Return to Normalcy

'Mumum!'

'Nuh.'

'Mumum, geddup, geddup!'

Beckett groaned when she felt the creaking of the bed by her hip, heard the voice of her little girl. 'Jojo, what is it?' she sighed, then felt little thumbs lift her eyelids up for her. Yep, there was Jojo, wide awake and bouncing like a spring on the spot.

'Mumum! It air-puh-lane day! We gonna fuh-ly-a Bermuda fo' a sup-ah 'pishal weddin'!'

Beckett gently removed her daughter's fingers from her face, then sat up as Jojo rounded the foot of the bed and hollered the same way at her father.

'Daddy! No time be suh-leepy now! Time-a go!' When she received no response, Jojo clambered up and squatted on her father's back, shook him like she was testing a Christmas tree. 'Daaaaaaa-deeeee! Geddup! Up up up!'

'Jojo, did you get any sleep?' Castle mumbled as he felt his daughter's pure excitement all but vibrate her right off the floor.

'A li'l bit, but can' be late fo' the puh-lane! It gonna go woosh-woosh-woosh!'

Jojo made a rocking motion with her arms that sent her whole body rocking; her exuberance was infectious and Beckett had to laugh. 'Alright, bumblebee, let's go get some world traveler breakfast.'

'Nope, no wan' an icky tummy.' Jojo shook her head. 'I wait fo' puh-lane 'nacks.'

'Well, I'm going to make something for me, and we're going to let Daddy sleep a little bit more since he was up late with me last night.'

'Why up pas' beddie-byes?'

Beckett thought of the tender yet smoking hot love she'd made with her husband, the kind that had the bed gently creaking with their movements and her moaning in his ear for more. It was exactly what she'd needed to put the case behind her and be able to enjoy the trip for the wedding. 'Because we were enjoying some alone time together.'

'Oh, that nice. You workin' lossa Mumum, you nee' Daddy time too, jus' like me.'

'Very different Daddy time,' Beckett murmured as she followed Jojo downstairs and went straight to the fridge. They stayed in the kitchen a little longer the night before after dinner and cooked bacon so that this morning all they had to do was warm it up for BLTs and fresh fruit salad with juice, coffee or milk before getting on the plane.

She still couldn't believe that Andrea and Daniel were picking up the tab for the entire wedding party, but then like the majority of their weddings the gathering was family only so in that respect it made sense. They all knew of all the people in their crowd that had money with a capital M Andrea had the most, even more than Castle did, and she would spend it all on her loved ones before she'd live the high life off the interest alone.

She zapped the bacon from the fridge in the microwave, waited for toast; when she turned around she saw Jojo had scampered off upstairs again and knew from the sound patterns of the footsteps Jojo had gone to wake up her big brother. Sure enough there was her little voice excited followed by his sleepy and irritated one.

_Ah-Shay, come o__n! Time-a go!_

_Jojo, it's okay we'll be on time  
_

_No, you too suh-low, you a tuh-till big buh-ro! Less go! Less go!  
_

_Jojo, I'm going to use the bathroom, then I'm going to get some breakfast. You need breakfast too.  
_

_No, too ess-cited!  
_

Beckett shook her head, made coffee she knew her husband wouldn't be able to function without, listened to her children's footsteps on the stairs as they scampered into the kitchen.

'Mumum, we nee' have bik-fiss, like...like now!' Jojo insisted, looking from her big brother to the

'Jojo, remember Alexis' graduation from school? How we had lots of time to get ready and then wait?' RJ yawned.

'Uh-huh.'

'That's what flying on airplanes is like. Our bags are packed and our parents have the tickets, all we have to do is get ready like we're going out for the day.'

'Oh.' Jojo frowned over this, then shrugged. 'I 'till too ess-cited.'

'Okay, then snack on the plane.' But Beckett would tuck a bistro-box into her tote because she knew once Jojo got to the airport she would be calmer and hunger would set in. 'Just remember Jojo, there's lots of little kids flying for the first time, they're not as seasoned a traveller as you are.'

'Oh, it okay, I say no be 'faid.'

'Who do we get to sit with on the plane, Mumum?' RJ asked, putting in bread for toast. 'Are we going to be all mixed up or staying with our families?'

'We are going to be all mixed up so you'll get to sit with Trini, my boy, and your sister is sitting with Nessa and Heddie.'

'Wha' 'bout Devin an' Nate?' Jojo asked, and Beckett smothered the giggle when she saw RJ go very still, turn to his sister like a cobra coiling up to strike.

'Jojo, we talked about this.'

'Shee, Ah-Shay, Devon my fuh-rien'! He no' like you an' Tah-rini.' Jojo shook her head, looked to her mother for backup. 'Shee, Mumum, wha' we gon' do wit' my buh-ro? He susha silly boy!'

'No I'm not,' RJ said with great pride, 'I just like to make sure you are protected. I'm your big bro, that's my job.'

'Aw, gassy, big buh-ro! I have toas' too?'

Jojo having apparently forgotten that she was too excited for food, gave her brother a hug and waited while the bread warmed. Beckett glanced up the stairs as she saw Castle coming down the stairs, yawning and scratchign his belly but grinning when he was done.

'Heard Little Miss Drill Sargeant waking up the troops, figured I should come down before the bacon all went missing.'

'Good plan.' She smiled when he touched his lips to hers, sighed as she wrapped her arms around him. 'I'm so thankful for this vacation. This last case...'

'I know, it did a number on everyone involved. Is there any good news to come out of it, now that it's over?'

'Well, we locked up a dangerous sexual predator, and Sarah Ritter's family is going to be looking after Ashley until her father sorts everything out legally for her mother, and Sarah looks like she'll be sprung from the hospital some time today.'

'All those lives that get to go on because you're the best.'

'That, and I work with the best too. Nicky Tomasi didn't have that team in his corner the way he needed after he lost his mother. I had a good team,' Beckett murmured, 'so did Meredeth when she lost Constance, but this kid had no one. At least no one who cared the way a nine year old boy would need to be cared for.'

'Maybe now he'll get some help.'

'Daddy!'

The tranquility of Castle's embrace was shattered when Jojo hollered for her father. Beckett pecked his lips, grinned. 'Better see what she wants before the walls fall down.'

* * *

They managed to make it to the airport in one piece, Jojo even managing to keep her toast and bacon down despite bouncing like a super-ball in the car the entire trip to LaGuardia. Beckett had to laugh as she watched her little girl hold up the tiny little card-stock book to the airline attendant, informing her that her caterpillar Bib wasn't in trouble with the police and he had his little book to travel on an airplane. Then Jojo had been charmed when the attendant got out a small book of stickers used for children and put it in Bib's toy passport before assuring the little girl she would have to watching out for her buddy on the plane.

Now seated and waiting for the push-back, Beckett watched her daughter wriggle in her seat beside Heddie, who was very uiet, a sign she was either very nervous or feeling very sick.

'Heddie, how you doing darling?' Beckett asked her.

'O-kay,' she replied in a small voice.

'Jus' okay? No, be happy! We gonna see Adam and Lissy weddin',' Jojo encouraged her.

'I 'faid, Sho-sho.'

'Oh, it okay.' Jojo patted her friend's hand and when the plane began to move Heddie gripped it tightly.

'Sho-sho, I faid, it 'cary.'

'No, it okay, Heddie, I here.'


	46. Wedding Morning

Lindsay sighed, stretching as she woke. She could feel the tropical sun already warm on her face and for a moment she thought of how much she loved the fact the house in Bermuda was on the east coast of the island so that the guests would be gently woken by that first golden kiss of light.

Spoken like a true princess, she thought, then with a rush, her stomach felt as though it were filling up with warm water. She sat up like a mummy, the grin spreading over her face.

It was her wedding day. She was getting married.

The knowledge of it, that today would mark the first day of a new chapter in her life and the life she shared with Adam had her kicking at the light cotton sheets; they tangled and Lindsay nearly did a face-plant on the floor before huffing out a short breath and deliberately slowing her movements. She looked around the room, letting her gaze land on all her women - at the bride's insistence, the bridal party including the mother of the bride had had a big pyjama party the night before as they'd finalized the details for the reception into the wee hours of the morning. Having her women with her had helped calmed her nerves, no question, for Lindsay had been surprised how anxious she was feeling. Not cold feet - there was nothing in the world she wanted more than to call herself Doctor Lindsay Brennan - just wanting to make sure that nothing ruined her special day.

Fortunately, good Bermuda rum and ginger beer and excellent friends - sisters, really - had helped quell those nerves, so that now when Lindsay went to look out the small balcony of the east facing guest room she felt nothing but pure excitement.

'Morning bride!'

Lindsay looked back over her shoulder and saw Alexis there, yawning and stretching just like her father did, her red hair a tangled nest on her shoulders.

'Morning maid of honour. Can you believe this?' She turned back to look at the sun coming up over the ocean, sighed contentedly. 'I'm getting married. I never thought I'd get here.'

'No?'

'No.' Lindsay shook her head. 'After I was attacked, and I was going through therapy, it seemed like this thing that would never happen. Do you remember the first date I had after it happened?'

'Yeah, that was a tough night. You said the guy said he heard you were an easy lay who just liked to play hard to get, and you came home in tears.'

'I remember thinking after that first date that maybe my parents were right, maybe I was damaged goods.'

'Oh Lindsay.' Alexis wrapped her arms around her friend.

'Then I met Adam through you, and he was so sweet, so patient, because he knows what it means to be a man, to love someone and respect them, and...and I feel like the most beautiful woman in the world with him. Nothing can get to me, make me feel so small and hurt and...and worthless because what he and I have together is so special and wonderful.' Lindsay tilted her head so her temple rested on Alexis' forehead. 'I know I'm beautiful, and smart, and strong, but whenever someone tries to tell me that being raped makes me this or that, all I have to do is think of him and I know whoever that someone is being stupid is dead wrong.'

'Jesus, if I'm getting sniffly over that, I'll be a geyser when you say your vows,' Alexis told her on a water laugh. 'So, aside from all that deep wedding-day philosophy, how are you feeling?'

'Excited, nervous. Hungry,' Lindsay added on a laugh.

'Think you can keep some food?'

'Oh yeah, I'm going to need it. I feel like I'm going to faint if I don't eat soon.'

'Then we'll nosh in town.'

There was a groan from behind them, and the girls turned to see Andrea and Sloan both sitting up from their spots on the double trundle bed; Lanie's spot in the sleep lounger - she insisted since she was smallest she'd take the lounger - was empty and the door to the ensuite was shut.

'There's our bride! Happy wedding!' Sloan chirped, untangling her legs from her blanket. 'Oh, what time is it? We have to get going soon don't we?'

'Relax, Sloan,' Alexis giggled. 'It's all organized. We're taking our dresses to the hotel this morning, then heading into town to get our hair, make-up and nails done. Then we're going to the hotel and we'll get our dresses on, and the boat from the hotel is going to bring us to the dock here and then we walk up the dock to see your man, Lindsay.'

When the bride let out a happy squeal, the others followed suit and when Lanie emerged from the bathroom, she joined them. 'I have no idea what we're yelling about but it sounds great!' she cheered. 'Now, street clothes, teeth brushed, purse, dresses to the hotel, let's go!'

They readied themselves, taking sprinting-quick showers so that within the hour they all were ready to head into Hamilton to get buffed and polished for the big day. As she'd gone first, Lanie went downstairs to make sure the coast was clear; she saw Shane appear from the kitchen, shirtless and barefoot in his boardshorts, hair still dripping from a morning swim.

'Morning Doctor,' she teased him, 'you seen the groom yet?'

'Nah, he's still in the water with Daniel and Ryan and Espo. We got in a little body surfing on the morning tides.'

'Good, because the bridal party is making its escape now.'

'Perfect. I'll keep them occupied.' Shane grinned, then looked up the stairs as he saw his own sweet bride coming down with the girl of the day. 'In one second.'

He took the five seconds to give Alexis a kiss that sent her out the door with stars in her eyes before walking back into the kitchen, and with good timing too - the other men were just coming up the steps to the kitchen as the front door closed. He went to the coffee maker and flipped it on, began to look through the fridge's contents to find breakfast.

'That was a close one, gents, you just missed the bridal party leaving for the dock,' he informed them when he heard the sliding doors open. 'But that means we've got time to do our thing without any fear of us seeing them or vice versa. What's the groom feel like?'

'Like marrying the love of his life,' Adam replied as his stomach did a loop-the-loop. He was getting married today, to the most wonderful woman in the world. He pressed a hand to his stomach, the other balled into a fist at his mouth.

'You gonna blow?' Ryan asked, knowing the look on the man's face well.

'No. No, I'm good, I think.'

'Don't worry, bro, you'll be fine,' Esposito reassured him. 'You won't step on her dress, and you won't hesitate when you say I do.'

'I'm not worried about that, it's...I'm scared to death I'm gonna freeze up on my vows.'

'Adam, I proposed to Meredeth at her book launch party with most of the New York press there, and the only thing that scares me into cold sweats aside from roller-coasters is public speaking and I got through it in one piece. Trust me, you'll be fine.'

'Okay. You're all married men, you know it'll be fine when you say it'll be fine. What?'

Adam saw the men exchange looks and realized what he was doing. 'I'm not babbling,' he protested.

'Sure, dude,' Ryan chuckled. 'Whatever you say.'

'I'm not!'

'Like a babbling brook,' Shane added, 'but we all did, right gentlemen?'

'You sure as hell did, Shane. I've never seen you so nervous, except for maybe the day we busted in on you and Alexis banging in the shower.'

'They walked in on you having sex with Alexis?' Adam asked, glad to have a distraction from the can-can kicking butterflies in his belly.

'Yeah, Alexis answered the door of his place when we went to meet him for cards, she's got wet hair and he walks out of the bathroom in just a towel and his tattoos,' Ryan teased him, swearing up and down he could see steam shooting out of Shane's ears. 'He claims it was just a shower, but we know better, right Doctor?'

You did n-' Shane cut himself off, shook his head. 'Adam, you want some coffee?'


	47. The Ceremony

_Okay everyone! Here we are! The wedding scene! Prepare to cry, because I cried as I wrote it!_

* * *

'Mumum, why wear sun-goo?'

Beckett smiled at Jojo as the girl wrinkled her nose over the smell of the sunscreen she slicked over her little girl's arms and shoulders. 'So that you don't get sunburned, bumblebee.'

'No, burn oushie.'

'Exactly.'

Beckett flicked her fingertip down Jojo's nose and the toddler laugh. 'Ewww, you all suh-limy. Now haffa wash hands, no geddin' it on my duh-ress. Haffa look nice fo' weddin'.'

Jojo scampered into the bathrom, leaving Beckett to look over at Castle and RJ, the latter of whom raced to the window where he saw people already assembly on the grass knoll just before the edges of the sandy beach.

'Look, our family is already down there! We're gonna miss it! Jojo, let's go!'

He grabbed his sister's hand and they raced off, Castle and Beckett following behind. It was a beautiful day for a wedding, and given that it was September in Bermuda, it felt more like July back home. There was nary a cloud in the sky with just enough salty breeze from the ocean to keep everyone from melting like Popsicles in hell during the length of the ceremony.

They headed out to see the rows of white chairs arrange in a horseshoe shape, took their seats. From the spot on the small bluff overlooking the beach and the dock, the whole of the congregation had a perfect view of the dock where the bridal party would arrive.

'Oh, Mumum,' Jojo breathed, leaning forward in anticipation, 'it look so boo-tee-full!'

'It does, and wait until we see Lindsay, I bet she looks like a princess.'

As with any happy event, the minutes ticking by barely seemed like wait time - they watched Esposito, Shane, Ryan and Adam come down the aisle, saw Daniel by the white-linen covered table that would serve as the altar and review his own notes. There were flowers everywhere, Beckett noted too, gardenias and orchids from the florists but plenty of other island plants to - bougainvillea, Brazil rain trees with their delicate purple blossoms, Alexandrian laurel too, all mingled here and there so that it truly felt like their own private paradise.

Finally, finally, the guests all saw Dave coming down the aisle, and walking with all the men except the groom towards the dock. It was the sign that the ceremony would be starting in a matter of seconds, as the ushers went to greet the boat.

'Mumum, where they goin'?' Jojo whispered.

'They are going to meet the boat that all the girls are coming in.'

'Oh, that so fancy!'

RJ shushed his sister, and to Beckett's relief she listened to him; both focused their attention where it was most needed - Lanie, the mother of the bride, was walking up the path from the dock to stand with Adam, take her place in the front row. Then came Andrea and Sloan with Esposito and Ryan, each wearing bold island colours for their bridesmaids gowns, Andrea in lemon yellow, Sloan in bold cerise; they carried in their hands delicate locally-made bouquets of trumpet flowers in shades to match their dresses. Finally there was Alexis in cerulean silk and carrying white roses while she walked up the path with her own husband.

'Mumum,' RJ hissed, 'Alexis looks so pretty!'

'She does, but she's not the princess today.'

'Nuh-uh, there's there princess!'

The congregation rose, turned to watch the bride leave the boat. At the altar, Adam felt his heart stop when he saw her take Dave's arm, a waterfall of white flowers in her hands. She was, in a word, an angel: her dress was a pale ivory silk, a knee-length princess ball-gown sprinkled with glittery things that caught the sunlight and made him think she'd been dipped in diamonds. The plunging neckline showed off her ample bosom, accentuated the slimness of her torso and the wideness of her hips. She'd braided back her hair so that it was sleek on the crown of her head, then exploded into a million curls over her shoulders. Her mouth, he saw as she approached him, was lush and full-looking; Adam had to check himself from wanting to kiss her then and there.

Lindsay felt the bubble burst in her belly, the smile wide and anticipating as she took each step towards Adam. She was glad she had Dave's arm to support her, because she was certain she'd have sprinted to Adam, jammed the ring on his finger and signed the paper in under five minutes. But she wanted the ceremony, as did he, and knew that she would be thankful she hadn't raced through it.

When she reached the altar in front of Daniel, beside Adam, Dave kissed her cheek and gave her the kind of fahterly affectionate smile she'd never known. 'Congratulations, darling, you deserve all the happiness in the world.'

'Thank you, Dave.'

Lindsay kissed his cheek back, then put her hand in Adam's as the guests sat and Daniel began his role as the officiant.

'Welcome, everyone, we are here to celebrate the union of life and of love, in Lindsay Angela Sabern and Adam Jarrad Brennan. We are blessed, one and all, to be here, because there is no greater joy than seeing two people come together in love after facing personal trials that would make finding such a love impossible for some.'

Daniel gave them a little nod, and Lindsay passed her flowers to Alexis, took the ring from her she would give to Adam. 'Adam,' she began, then cleared her throat, which had gone tight with the emotions churning through her. 'Adam, in all my life, all I've ever heard is how I was never good enough, and always felt like I was a disappointment when I tried to please so many people and never could. Then I met you and you changed everything because you fell in love with me exactly as I was. You never asked me to change or become somebody you thought I should be. You love me for me, so I stand here today to make you a promise that will never change.'

She took the ring and slipped it on his finger. 'I love you with all my heart.'

Adam looked in her beautiful brown eyes while she lifted his hand to her lips to kiss his knuckles, and suddenly, the nerves about boffing up his vows to her that morning were a distant memory. He knew exactly what to say and how to say it.

'Lindsay,' he told her, taking both her hands in his, 'I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, some little and some big. I made so many of them I started to wonder if I would ever get this, my own happy ending with my princess. Then you came into my life and suddenly those parts of my life I wasn't so proud of didn't seem so bad because you saw me. The real me and not just the mistakes.'

Adam took the ring from Shane, slipped it onto Lindsay's finger and felt his throat catch. 'You fell in love with all of me and I promise I will love all of you with all my heart.'

The sound of sniffles amongst the guests was the only sound the could be heard for a moment; even the stalwart Daniel had to collect himself a moment before continuing on, gesturing for Alexis and Shane to step forward and bear witness to the signing of the marriage documents before he came to the final portion of the ceremony. He picked up a white scarf, asked the bride and groom to join hands before wrapping it three times around their hands.

'Three circles, for three lives. The life you've lived together, the life you'll make together, and the life you share with all of us who love you. Do you promise to live those lives with honour and humour, bravery and love?'

'I promise,' Lindsay said.

'I promise,' Adam said too, and Daniel unwrapped the silk from their hands, took a step back.

'Then by the power vested in me by the State of New York, I declare that you are husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.'

Adam gave an excited little bounce as he drew Lindsay close and wrapping his arms around her, kissed her with all his might as everyone whistled and cheered around them. His wife, was all he could think. He was kissing his wife.

Lindsay closed her eyes as her husband lifted her clean off her feet, his mouth warm on hers. Her husband, she thought, I'm kissing my husband.

'Ladies and gentlemen.' Daniel didn't bother keeping the laughter and tears out of his voice when they , arms still around each other. 'May I present to you Adam and Lindsay Brennan.'


	48. Magical Little Moments

'Hello Detective Brennan.'

'Hello Doctor Brennan. Or will it be Doctor Sabern still? Or Doctor Sabern Brennan?'

'Nope.' Lindsay shook her head as she pecked Adam's lips once more. 'You had it right the first time. Doctor Brennan.'

'My wife the doctor.' Adam grinned like a fool. 'I love how that sounds. Come on, there's a little surprise waiting for us.'

'Okay.'

Lindsay smiled at her husband, let him lead her down the aisle and straight into the house which made her raise an eyebrow. 'Shouldn't we be thanking people for coming to our wedding, getting our pictures taken now?'

'In a moment.' Adam led her into the dining room where there was a silver-dome and two places set on the mahogany table and a bottle of soft cider waiting in a bucket of ice.

'What's all this?'

'It's something I asked Shane about, he said this is usually part of a Jewish wedding since the bride and groom have to fast. I don't know about your morning but I could hardly keep coffee down, and now I feel like I could eat a whole hip of beef myself.'

As if to respond for her, Lindsay's stomach gave a huge gargle and she laughed. 'I'd say that sounds about right, my love.'

'So here we are, a whole half an hour to ourselves before we go back out to see everyone.'

'Won't they think we're consummating our marriage vows?' she teased him and Adam sent her a slow burning look that made her body respond in kind.

'All in good time my love.' He opened the cider to pour them a glass each. 'What should we toast to?'

'A long and happy life together.'

'A big family.'

'Always having each other's back.'

'For letting me have that pineapple and goat cheese pizza you claim stinks up the house,' Adam added, making Lindsay wrinkle her nose.

'For not complaining when I clip my toenails in bed,' she replied.

'For loving each other exactly as we need to.'

They kissed once more, drank, then like a true gentleman Adam pulled Lindsay's chair out for her, held her hand as she sat down. He lifted the silver dome, gestured like a magician. 'Voila.'

He lifted the dome and instantly, Lindsay was thankful for this suggestion - the hotel doing their catering had sent over a picnic lunch for them. There was chicken salad, a shredded slaw of broccoli, bok choy and green apples, na'an toasty-points and a plate of cheese and tropical fruit.

'Oh yum,' Lindsay sighed, and she dug into the chicken salad, scooping it onto her plate, adding toasty points and fruit. 'Tell Shane this was a great idea,' she said around the mouthful she'd shoveled in.

'Very great idea,' Adam agreed, going straight for the slaw and salad. He watched her dig in, and remembered the first time he'd watched her eat on a date - she was like a little chipmunk, unwittingly storing food in her cheeks then swallowing. She was eating the same way now, only now she was his wife, he thought that was a smile. 'God you're adorable Lindsay, I love you so much.'

'I love you too.'

They ate until the bowls were cleaned out, saving some of the fruit for later that night Lindsay told her husband - god that was never going to get old - and with full bellies they headed back outside. Unsurprisingly, the first people to notice were some of the youngest guests at the party; Jojo, Nessa, Devon, Nate and Max all crowded over to them like a little flock of sandpipers.

'Yea Lissy!' Nate being the baby in the group went first, and threw his chubby little arms around Lindsay's arms. 'Woo-woo! So pidy! Adam pidy too!'

'Thanks little man.' Adam crouched down, gave Nate's little tie a wiggle. 'You look pretty sharp too.'

'I fan-see,' he replied proudly, then looked at Max and Devon. 'You too!'

From across the lawn Beckett watched her colleague with the children giving them such loving and devoted attention, just as he would everyone else he met whether it was a small child or a possible witness when they were on canvas. It was what made him such a good cop, that he was able to tune out the bullshit around him and focus in on what was most important. It was why he would make a good parent when the time was right.

'Hey,' she murmured to her husband, 'wanna take a walk?'

'With you, Detective, always.'

They headed for the sandy shoreline where the bluff eased into the beach down the bay; sighing she wrapped her arm around Castle waist, gave him a squeeze which had him looking at her with curiosity.

'What's got you all cozy?' he murmured, put his arm around her shoulders to balance the hold.

'Just thinking about how well matched Lindsay and Adam are, and how great they'll be as a mama and daddy when they're ready.'

'You were very freaked out by the idea of being a mama.'

'No, I was freaked out by being pregnant,' she corrected him. 'I knew I'd always wanted to be a mother, and...'

'And?' Castle prompted her when she went quiet.

'And...God, I can't believe I'm admitting this.' Beckett gave a little laugh. 'When we first hooked up, as writer and cop I mean, there was a part of me that fell for you as a parent first before I fell the rest of the way.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, it was the case at Hallowe'en, the dead comic book artist.'

'Right the werewolf,' Castle mused and Beckett gave him a gentle elbow in the ribs.

'The comic book aritst,' she repeated, 'and you got that call that Alexis' friend was in trouble. You dropped everything, not just what we were working on, but all the goofiness and the games. You weren't Castle my tagalong, you were Daddy and that, well...that made me think there was more to you than just shenanigans and breast-gawking.'

'Shenanigans and breast gawking,' Castle replied, shaking with laughter.

'Yeah, up until then it had been a lot of bragging and 'I know a guy' type shit. That was the first time I felt like I knew the real you.'

'Kate, not that I don't love these trips down memory lane, but is there a reason you're thinking like this now?'

'Just looking at Adam and Lindsay and thinking about what they've both overcome, how they've made a life together. There is a lot that could have gone against them.'

'There is,' Castle agreed, 'same with any of the couples in our family. That's why they are so stronger. No D-words in those futures.'

'Not a one.'

'So tell me more about these musings from Hallowe'en.' Castle knew his wife, knew she was thinking about the case they'd closed just before the trip to Bermuda, knew it was his job to keep her from dwelling on it at a time like this. 'Did you fantasize about making a million babies with me that night?'

'Nah, mostly just about getting you back for that stupid story you told me. And I did that times two.'

'Yes you did.'

'I also remember going home that night and dreaming about you and Alexis and I taking a little boy trick-or-treating. Our little boy,' she added, and turned to Castle, kissed his mouth long and sweet. 'That's when the tide started turning for me without even realizing it.'

'I love you Kate.'

'I love you to, Rich.'

They embraced each other, lips meeting tenderly as their toes wriggled in the pink sand. When they broke apart, Castle rested his chin against her forehead.

'Want to head back now?'

'In a moment.'

'Okay.'

She stayed in his arms, thought about the first time they'd danced, and kissed, and made love. That had been at a wedding too, after closing a case that just didn't let its teeth go from her mind. Fortunately the man who'd become her friend, then lover, fiance and finally husband, was great at distracting her then and now.

'Okay, now time to go back. I don't wanna miss out on the cake.'

'Or the garter toss.'

'And we're back,' Beckett giggled as they returned towards the house and their family, and all the joys weddings amplified.


	49. Wedding Night

_Hello all! Once more, we are wrapping up a Crumbsian story but as always, there is another one coming along right behind it, and I cannot tell you how excited I am to about this one! As always thank you to **Ariel119, Alex Beckett, tayababy, BabyCastle09, anomalymona **and **NotJana** for being the best bluebird circle in the world!_

* * *

When the party had died down, and there were only romantic-minded grown-ups left on the beach where they'd spent the night dancing in the sand, Adam and Lindsay stood together on the balcony of the master bedroom, overlooking the ocean with its beautiful sunset; Lindsay spooned against Adam's chest. Her husband, she thought with a happy little shimmer.

'It's so beautiful here,' she murmured, stroking her hand over his and feeling his shiny new wedding ring there. 'Reminds me of the first time we came to this place.'

'That was a big weekend too,' Adam sighed back, breathing deep the scent of his wife's hair. That he could call her that now, his wife, was so overwhelming that Adam felt the tears rush into his eyes and he sniffled a little.

Alarmed, Lindsay turned around; her eyes went wide when she saw him weeping lightly. 'Adam, honey, what is it?'

'It's...I meant it, Lindsay, every letter of it, when I told you today that I was so certain that I would never have a shot at being happy like this. I seriously thought I'd screwed myself up so badly that no one could love me as I was with my past. And you do.'

'Adam.' Lindsay put her hand to his cheek, her lips lightly to his. 'Adam, come with me.'

She took his hand and pulled him into their room, careful to close the doors so as to keep this moment just for themselves. With her hands on his shoulders, she kissed him once more, deepened the kiss.

'This room was a huge first for us too,' she murmured to him. 'Kinda nice to bring it full circle.'

'Indeed, but just wait.' Adam kissed her lightly, then went to the bedside table where the hurricane lamps with their fragrant oil were sitting; he lit them both, giving the room a glowing love-nest feel. He went to the stereo and turned on one of the discs so the light lilting strains of a steel-drum band floated on the air. With the mood set, Adam turned back to Lindsay, took her hands in his. 'I love you so much Lindsay.'

'I love you too.'

Adam lifted his hands, trembling with nerves, to her shoulders, toyed with the strap of her dress; Lindsay closed her eyes as his hand fell away from her shoulder to her hip, pulling her close. The feel of his arousal beneath his clothes, against her body no longer frightened her, but aroused her as well, made her want to get him out of his clothes as much as he wanted her the same way. When he tugged down the zipper of her dress, slid the fabric away from her body so she was just in her wedding dress lingerie in front of him, she let her eyes go heavy for him.

'Oh wow, Lindsay.' Adam's eyes fixed on the sparkly little doo-dad piercing her navel. 'You got a belly ring and the decoration is wedding bells. That is just so us. And it is too, too hot that's the only thing you'll be wearing along with your wedding rings in a few minutes.'

'Now it's my turn,' she murmured, and slowly flipped open the buttons of his shirt, smoothing her hands over his chest. The fabric had barely hit the floor before she was reaching for the snap of his pants, drawing down the zipper. That he was just as hot as she was right now no longer embarrassed or frightened her. There was nothing there except pure love, and lust for her husband's body.

Adam closed his eyes as she shoved at his pants, his boxers, down his hips until they too were on the floor and he was pulling her close once more. She was so beautiful, his warrior woman; he led her over to the bed and sat on the edge, stroking his hands up and down her sides.

'Lindsay Angela,' he murmured, 'there is nothing in this world I want more than to make love with you.'

'Same goes, Adam Jarrad,' she murmured back, leaning in to kiss him, then leaning into his body to stretch them out on the bed. She closed her eyes as he rolled them so Lindsay lay on her back beneath him. She brushed her hand over his brow, combing her fingers through his thick brown hair. Then her eyes were sinking shut as he kissed her, his hands moving everywhere over her body, her breasts, her stomach, her hips. He tugged down the second garter she'd slipped onto her right thigh, watched her head roll back as he smoothed his hands down her legs. Then he was tugging her panties down and she let them fall open, a silent welcome for him. Her hips arched against his body when he lowered himself on top of her.

'My love,' Adam murmured to her, gritting his teeth so he wouldn't plunge himself inside her then and there. He needed to show her that there was so much more. He closed his mouth over hers, rubbing the pad of his thumb over her nipple; he groaned when he felt the heat rise from where he pressed so intimately against her. Angling his head, he rolled his tongue where his thumb had been, making her cry out in delight for him.

'God, Adam,' she moaned, nearly weeping at how good he made her feel, how sexy she felt with him for herself. She'd never thought after everything she'd been through, she'd ever be able to have sex again, nevermind this kind of tender intimacy and certainly not on her wedding night with her husband. With her palms damp from desire for him, Lindsay kneaded the flesh of his shoulders.

'Adam, use your mouth on me.'

'Yes.'

He nodded, kissing her lips and making a trail down the centre of her body until he found her, warm and wet and wanting him. He kissed the hollow of her thigh, them dragged his tongue over her honeypot; the shockwave it sent through her body had her hips bucking up, then slamming into the bed as she fought to set a rhythm. Her fine-boned hands found their way from his shoulders to his head, where they twisted through his hair to keep him where he was as she set the pace, each arching pass making her moan a little more each time until she was exploding beneath him. Adam closed his eyes and drank every ounce of her in - the scent, the taste, the feel of her as she all but screamed his name in dark delight.

When she steadied once more, Adam rose up to his knees to reach for one of the condoms on the bedside table, then let his hand drop to leave it where it was.

'Lindsay,' he started and Lindsay put her finger to his lips.

'No, Adam, I know. Just you and me this time.'

'Yes, my love.' He stretched himself out once more on Lindsay's lush body, his angels fitting against her curves. He looked at Lindsay's face, saw the love there and more importantly the trust. He brushed his lips over hers and keeping his eyes on her face, took her hand so he guided it down between their bodies and closed her fingers over the hardened length of him.

'Lindsay,' he murmured, and with her lips curving into a soft, feminine smile, she angles her hips and slipped him inside, slowly, inch by glorious inch, then let her hand fall away as she arched against him, then retreated, setting the rhythm for them both.

Adam gritted his teeth as he tried to keep it together. God, she was so hot, so ready for his body, but he knew her heart need his patience this first time as husband and wife. He wanted to take her, wanted to give her the animalistic pleasure he'd dreamed about since their first kiss and had given her before, but he knew she needed more than that right now.

She needed his love.

So he kept his eyes on hers, lowering his mouth to hers and murmuring in her ear, 'You feel so good, Lindsay, you're so wet for me, my love, don't stop.'

'No, I won't stop,' she replied, as sensations unlike any she'd ever felt before. Lindsay arched her back as her hips rocked and she took his hand, closed it over her breast with hers on top; she was letting him know this was more than okay, she really liked it and wanted more. 'More, Adam,' she pleaded, 'you can go faster. I want you to go faster.'

'Like this?'

Adam caught her knee with his hand, nudged it towards her chest so she was even more open for him and his pistoned his hips against her, going a little faster, a little faster with each pass so that she cried out again and again until it was a single elongated syllable of release. The feel of her clenching around him, shuddering beneath his touch made Adam finally lose control and he buried his face at her throat and emptied himself inside her.

They lay in the middle of the bed, still tangled together on top of the wrinkled sheets with the sound of steel drums on the air, Adam still steeped deep inside her. Lindsay stroked his hair gently as he nestled his head against her breasts, trying not to smile a big goofy smile.

'Adam?'

'Mm.'

'Adam.'

'No, I'm cozy.'

Lindsay giggled. 'I was just going to say, shouldn't you deal with the condom?'

'We didn't use one, remember?'

'Oh yeah.' She stopped stroking his hair, then gave a little shrug. 'Well, if we did accidentally make a baby tonight, then that's the only way I coudl be happier than I am right now.'

'Really?'

'Really, really.'

Adam looked at her. 'I love you, Linds.'

'I love you too, Adam.'


End file.
